Primary
by PhoenixLyric
Summary: It's been two years since Ash Ketchum dropped off the face of the Earth. He returns under a new name, Red, alongside a new friend, code named Blue, to infiltrate the Global Invitational Grand Tournament on the orders of Lance and the G-Men. Little do the two know that they'll stumble upon some rather nasty surprises concerning the League, an ex gym leader, and one of their own... A
1. Embark

A cloaked teenager overlooked the bustling city, keeping a careful eye on the lights blinking on and off in the plethora of buildings. A Pikachu perched on his shoulder, and five more Pokéballs rested in a special compartment in his belt.

"You sure you want to come back here?" asked his companion. She removed her hood, revealing wavy-curly copper hair and stunning blue eyes. "Remember what happened last time?"

He sighed, and a few of the flickering lights were reflected in his dark auburn eyes. "Yes, I do. That only happened because I wasn't a good enough trainer. I was too inexperienced to help my friends. I'm ready now- even though Rocket and the remains of Galactic have bounties on my head, I'm ready."

"You're not the only one," she teased, playfully shoving his shoulder. Her face quickly turned grim. "We might be in over our heads."

The male teenager removed his hood, revealing a head of spiky black hair. "Of course we are. That's why they sent us."

The girl sighed. "Ash Ketchum, you really are something, aren't you?"

He grinned. "That's the Aurian I remember."

The two kids vanished into the shadows, leaving nothing but an echo of their words behind.

* * *

Ash turned his invitation over in his hand. Pikachu was still asleep by his head, and Aurian hadn't moved since about twelve thirty the night before.

"Congratulations!  
You are formally invited to participate in the Global Invitational Grand Tournament by the invitation of Champion Cynthia Shirona of the Sinnoh region and Professor Samuel Oak. Please arrive at Lily of the Valley Island before November 1st to claim your spot.

-Charles Goodshow"

Ash knew that Aurian had a similar invitation- signed by Professor Rowan and Lance instead of Oak and Cynthia- but he wondered. How did Goodshow know where to find him?

Ever since the fiasco following the conclusion of his Sinnoh league, he had done his best to stay off the radar. Ash shuddered at the memory of Tobias' raging Darkrai, but pushed the memory back.

_The past is the past, after all._

Aurian pulled herself up with a quiet yawn, and started rolling up her sleeping bag without another word. She was his closest human friend at the moment- they had met at the oh-so-secretive induction into the Aura branch of the Pokémon G-Men, and had been assigned as each other's patonai- partners- at their induction. She was his opposite at the time- cool, collected, extremely tactical. Over the years, they had seemed to pick up bits and pieces of each other's personalities- Aurian picked up Ash's rather unorthodox battle skills, and Ash learned that tactics most always trumped skill.

Of course, they still had their own styles. Aurian specialized in high speed and attack- even her Empoleon, known more for its stunning defenses, was just as fast as his Pikachu.

Aurian Borealis was a strange case. As the only recorded female Aura Trainee in the last sixteen hundred years, she had already made history by accepting the G-_Men_ induction. She had a habit of being bitingly sarcastic and quite cynic- but whenever her friends or her Pokémon were in danger, she showed a softer, more caring side- and that was rare. The only people that she claimed to open up to were her family and Ash.

She raked a hand through her messy curls, and pulled her hair up into an off center ponyta-tail. Pikachu stirred at the noise, and stretched out with a soft 'Chaaa'.

"Mornin, buddy, how'd ya sleep?"  
Pikachu smiled while stretching his tail. "Kaka chu."  
"Good to hear," replied Ash. "Today's registration day, right?"

Aurian nodded. "That poses a problem. We need code names and last names."  
Ash frowned, but nodded. "Great idea."

Aurian paused, obviously thinking quite hard. "We could use our G-Men names."

"The director will want last names, as well," Ash countered.  
"If we do use our code, I'll end up as Blue, and you'll be Red."  
"We need last names."  
"Fine. You'll be Red Aronshu. I'll be Blue Katrian. Happy now?"

Ash nodded. "I know that you don't like our code names, but it's better to be safe than sorry- remember what happened with Galactic?"

Aurian shuddered. "Let's not talk about that right now."

He nodded. Some things were meant to be left behind- his old friends, for one. He knew for a fact that Misty and Brock probably received invitations similar to his, but he told himself not to care. They ditched him long ago- his current team was all he needed. As he drew his hood up around his head, he kept a careful eye on his surrounding.

"Do you think Rocket will try anything at the tournament?" Aurian asked, breaking the silence.

"Not sure," he responded. "It'd be good to stay on our guard, though. After the breakdown of Galactic, we're assassin targets."

She flipped her hood up and nodded silently. "You're worried about something."

He sighed. "I think I'll run into a few of my old 'friends'..."

Aurian sighed. "Look, they've already established their feelings about you. I hate to be a spoilsport, but _let it be._ Prove them wrong- you'll kick their sorry..."

"Language!" he interjected as she started to finish her sentence. They made eye contact and laughed as they approached the Pokemon Center on Lily of the Valley Island.

Ash stayed quiet, but he saw many trainers he recognized from regional tournaments and gym challenges. Aurian watched him visibly relax with every step he took. Soon, they entered a mega-sized Pokemon Center, where trainers left and right were lined up with identification papers. Luckily for the two of them, a Nurse Joy was opening a new line as they approached the counter, and the kindly pink-haired nurse waved them over.

"Welcome to the Registration for the Global Invitational Grand Tournament! May I sign you in?"

Aurian nodded, and passed over her invitation. "My name is Blue Katrian, and I hail from Canalave City in Sinnoh."

Ash took a calming breath as he passed over his papers. "Red Aronshu- Kanto."

"Just Kanto?" the nurse asked. Ash nodded as Nurse Joy entered their information into the computers.

"You're all set! Before you leave, I'd like each of you to draw a name from this bucket. Mr. Goodshow started a new program a few days back. He asked all beginning trainers that could to come here, where they could be tutored by the top trainers from across the regions. You'll meet them before the opening ceremony in three days."

"That's a lovely idea," Aurian replied. She delicately picked a piece of paper from the middle of the bowl. Ash, on the other hand, swirled the names around a bit before picking one. As he unfolded his paper, his patonai watched, horrified, as his face paled.

"Thank you very much, and have a nice day," Ash said, his voice strained, as he took Aurian's wrist and pulled her away from the counter.

Aurian frowned at him as they moved back outside. "What was that for?"

Ash passed his paper over to Aurian, and she gasped.

_Max Maple._

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she moaned. "I'm so sorry, Ash. But you've spoken highly of him in the past- why are you worried?"

"Not him. His sister."

"Ah. I have a girl named Madeline Cobalt. If she's anything like her name, I bet she's pretty cool."

They stayed silent for a while before Aurian spoke.

"It's not like they'll recognize you, anyways- you've grown your hair out, and those contacts make you look completely different."

Ash smacked his forehead.

"You didn't put them in, did you?"

He sighed. "I'll be right back."

Aurian watched his retreating form and smiled. Ash may have matured in the two years that she knew him, but some things never change. She tensed suddenly, feeling a shift in the airflow behind her. Her aura-sight automatically activated, and she immediately recognized the person standing behind her.

"Hello, Lance. Shouldn't you be back at the League?"

He shrugged. "I thought I'd come out here and check on you two. I'd ditch the hoods- you're getting suspicious looks."

She sighed, and pulled her hood down. "Ash went to put in his contacts- he'll be back soon."

As she spoke, Ash returned with new crimson eyes.

"Remind me why I have to wear these again, Lance?" he groaned. Pikachu was perched on top of his shoulder, as usual, and squeaked a greeting to his red haired superior.

"Your eye color is unique- we've been over this. You're the only trainee alive at the moment that doesn't have blue eyes. Anyways, I uncovered some dirt on Rocket and Galactic- they're planning something. Keep your eyes pealed for agents."

The two teens nodded as Lance vanished back into the crowd.

"Well, that confirms our suspicions," Ash pondered, absentmindedly stroking Pikachu under the chin.

Aurian felt a tap on her shoulder, and spun around to find a small girl- not more than ten- standing in front of her.

"Are you Blue Katrian?" she asked.

"Yes, I am. Are you Madeline?"

She nodded. "Yep! But call me Maddy, please."

Ash frowned. "I'm Red, nice to meet you. What are you doing here so early?"

Maddy shrugged. "I was so excited that I thought I'd come early! My starter Pokémon and I are looking forward to learning a lot!"

"May we meet it?" Aurian asked. The little yellow-haired girl nodded, and released a Cyndaquil.

"She's not much, but Corona means the world to me."

Aurian got down on her knees and looked the little fire-type in its squinty eyes. "It's nice to meet you, Corona. I look forward to getting to know you."

Ash glanced over his shoulder, and bit his lip when he saw a familiar olive-headed boy, escorted by his brunette haired older sister, approach the registration counter.

_Here goes nothing._


	2. Complicate

Aurian suppressed a sigh when she saw tension spread through Ash's shoulders. He had given her the full backstory on the Sinnoh League Incident, and her heart broke for his when he confessed how his friends left him behind. The fact that he could relate his ex-acquaintances' remarks back to her verbatim was just another sign of how deeply he still hurt. From then on, he harbored a deep distrust of Dark-types in general, along with most strangers.

She understood where he was coming from. Her old friends treated her like a Seel in a circus when they found out about her aura capabilities. She left their pretty little contests and nasty personalities behind in a nanosecond.

As Ash spoke with the little blond girl and about her progress so far on her journey, Aurian watched the Spoink-tailed teen and her little brother register and receive Red's name. When they walked away from Nurse Joy, Aurian quickly signed a hand signal by dragging two fingers of her right hand over her left pointer finger, and then motioning towards her eye.

_Watch out for trouble._

Ash nodded discreetly, and continued his conference with Maddy. Aurian heard tidbits of their conversation while she bounced on her toes, preparing for the worst.

"Do you know which circuit you'd like to try to chase?" Ash asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Maddy responded. "I'm still deciding between Gym Battles and Contests."

Ash smiled. "When I was traveling through Sinnoh, I met a man that was very accomplished at both. In the end, just do what makes you and your Pokémon happy."

"That's why I'm here," Maddy answered. "Maybe if I watch really good trainers battle, it'll inspire me to chase my own rainbows."

"That's a good way to put it," Ash chuckled. He paled a little when he saw Max and May approach, but stood a little taller, nonetheless.

"I'm looking for a... Red Aronshu?" Max read off his paper. May crossed her arms, and started tapping her foot.

"Ugh, Max, hurry up! I promised Dawn that I'd meet her at the shopping area in five minutes!"

Aurian took that as her cue to step in. "Hey there- Red is speaking with my trainee, Maddy. He'll finish in a second."

"What's your name?" asked Max, shoving his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"My name is Blue. Blue Katrian."

"I'm Max, and this impatient girl is my older sister, May."

"Whatever," the brunette answered.

Ash, who had finished his conference with Maddy, frowned, which caught May's eye.

"I'm sorry, miss, but if you're more worried about your shopping date than your family, I advise that you leave. Blue and I don't tolerate that kind of behavior from Coordinators- or anyone, really."

May's eyes narrowed. "How'd you know I was a Coordinator?"

Ash shrugged. "The way you walk, the way you speak, and the fact that you're highly impatient means that you're used to working on a tight and stressful schedule on your own. You're not used to other people factoring into your equation."

Max grinned at Ash's critique at his sister's personality.

"You don't have to worry about me, sis. I am ten now, after all. Go find Misty and Brock- pretty sure that they won't miss me."

"Fine," May sighed. "Be sure to meet us in the Pokémon Center for dinner, though."

And at that, the Coordinator sauntered away.

"Geez," Maddy whistled. "Are all Coordinators that stuck up?"

Max shook his head. "Nah. My sister's had a really bad losing streak in her contests lately- she either loses in the last few seconds or doesn't get past the first round."

Aurian frowned. "Do you know why?"

Max shrugged. "There was this guy that we used to travel with that helped her through some tight spots. Without his advice, she's gotten a little strung out."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "A little?"

"Fine, a lot," Max countered. "I've been trying to make her see that it's okay to have a bad day once in a while, but I haven't had any luck."

"You're being a great brother by trying, though," Ash said, putting a hand on the young boy's shoulder. "She'll come to her senses soon."

"This is no time for worrying, though! We've got a tournament in three days! We should get to know each other before opening ceremonies. Hey Red, do you want to head back to the campsite?" suggested Aurian.

Red shrugged. "Sure. I think Typhlosion is still asleep back there, and I'd like to check on him."

Max furrowed his eyebrows as he heard that last sentence. Red kinda looked like Ash, and now a Pikachu and an evolved Johto starter to boot? But it couldn't be him, though- Ash didn't have crimson eyes.

"Let's go," Aurian announced, guiding the three back through a forest trail.

"So, Red, you've gotta be good to get in here, right? Which regions' gyms did you challenge?" asked Max.

"The standard four- Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Johto, although not in that order. Blue and I also took a trip to Orre to check things out." Ash replied, stretching his arms.

"I thought that Cipher was making trouble over there," Max countered.

Aurian grinned. "Not anymore. We had some assistance from the Jennies and two old friends of mine, but Cipher is basically done for."

Maddy's eyes grew wide. "Seriously?"

Ash nodded. "Yup. We're here, right?"

Aurian moved aside a small tree branch, revealing two sleeping bags, a handmade fire pit surrounded by an assortment of stones, and one sleepy fire-type.

"Mornin, buddy," Ash announced, approaching his partner. Typhlosion yawned, and rolled back over.

The crimson-eyed trainer laughed, and playfully nudged his teammate. "Up up up, we've got a big day ahead of us."

With a rather snarky growl, the fire-type pulled himself up and stretched. Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder to greet his friend.

"Max, may we see your starter Pokémon?" Aurian asked.

"Sure thing! Ralts, come on out!"

A petite little psychic-type appeared, its green helmet shining in the sunlight.

"Raaaalts?" It questioned, gazing at the three other trainers.

"Ralts, these are our new friends- Red, Blue, and Maddy."

Corona waddled over to the Hoenn native Pokémon, and started a conversation in poké-speak. The two seemed to hit it off well, which made the rookies smile.

Aurian frowned. "I should probably feed the team- do you guys want to see some really cool Pokémon?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Please," he stated, drawing the word out, "mine are cooler."

Aurian just chuckled and released three Pokémon- an Empoleon, a Mienshao, and a Togekiss, who immediately looked for food.

"Like trainer, like Pokémon," Ash groaned. Aurian grinned as she poured out three servings of food.

Ash tossed two Pokéballs into the air, revealing a Pidgeot and a Donphan.

"Woah," Maddy breathed. "I've never seen these kinds of Pokémon before!"

"They're not native to Sinnoh," Max explained. "This is a very good inter-region representation. Hey, Blue- what was Unova like?"

She smiled. "It was amazing- the gym puzzles really made you think. Lots and lots of walking, though, but the scenery was worth it. White Forest in the spring is spectacular."

Ash's reply was cut off by the ringing of a device tucked in Aurian's pocket.

"Sorry to leave you guys, but Red and I need to take this call. We'll be back ASAP, promise." She grabbed Ash by his collar and drug him off towards the greenbelt, much to the two rookies' disappointment. Pikachu and Empoleon tailed their trainers.

"Wonder what that was about?" asked Maddy.

"I dunno. It's gotta be pretty important for them to run out like that," Max responded, gently stroking Aurian's Togekiss. "Let's hope that this isn't a trend."

Maddy nodded as she looked at the Typhlosion. "It's hard to believe that Corona will evolve into something like this guy."

* * *

Aurian answered the video call to find a three way with Lance and two Pokémon Rangers, named Ben Natsuya and Summer Minami.

"Hey, everyone. I take it that we have news?" asked Ash.

Summer nodded. "Yeah. Ben and I stumbled upon a trio of Team Rocket grunts headed your way. Said that they were looking for Ash Ketchum," she said with a wink. "Do you know anyone by that name, Red?"

Ash shook his head while suppressing a grin. "No, can't say that I do. Is there a talking Meowth with them?"

Ben glanced over his shoulder. "Yep- now they're arguing over food. If I were you, I'd keep an eye out for more agents- disguised or not."

Lance nodded. "Again, I might be sending messengers with news. Keep your heads down and your eyes open."

The two rangers and the pair of patonai nodded, and ended the call.

"Rocket must not be very confident if they're only sending Jesse, James, and Meowth," commented Ash.

Aurian managed a half smile. "I'm still worried, though. I know that our leaders wouldn't have given this job to us if they knew we couldn't pull it off, but I can't help but wonder what's really behind all of this."

"I hear ya," Ash answered. "One thing at a time, now- let's make sure that our rookies nave the time of their lives."

The patonai completely missed the little green-haired head hiding in the bushes, mouth gaping and eyes wide at what he just heard.

* * *

_**(A/N): Hey, everyone! Thanks for reading Chapter Two! I'll respond to all reviews from this point forward. **_

_**Akuma: Thank you so much!**_

_**partner555: I'm not sure if I'll put pairings in this fic yet, but I appreciate your kind words. As for the Sinnoh League incident- can't say anything without ruining the plot!**_

_**PL signing off!**_


	3. Reappear

Max quickly ducked his head back inside the bushes and turned away from his mentors when he heard Blue end the video call. His mentors had contact with two rangers and a League Champion? And what was this about their 'superiors'?

He quickly shoved the thought aside. If Jessie, James, and Meowth were still looking for Ash, then what chance did he have of finding his old friend?

* * *

Ash tensed once again, the very edges of his eyes burning a bright cerulean under the contacts. He caught Aurian's attention, and signaled a hand motion- pointing at two eyes and outstretching his right hand.

_Someone's watching_.

Aurian immediately whipped around, her eyes glowing an unearthly blue. She immediately saw where Max was hiding, and whispered something to Ash. The patonai walked back down the path as Max sprinted back on an adjacent trail with no clue of the patonai's observance.

The olive-headed boy arrived back at camp to find the plethora of Pokémon getting along rather nicely. He approached Aurian's Mienshao, who was leisurely eating an Oran berry, with a smile.

"Hey there! I'm Max."

The fighting type smiled at the boy while finishing her berry. "Shao, shami."

As Max and the fighting-type continued their exchange, Maddy walked back towards Max, with Corona and Typhlosion at her side.

"I followed Red and Blue," Max admitted sheepishly.

Maddy sighed. "Curiosity killed the Purrloin. What'd you find out?"

"They're working for someone- I heard an older voice mention something about Team Rocket looking for an old friend of mine."

Maddy frowned. "I've heard of them- they steal Pokémon, right?"

Max nodded. "Yeah, and apparently, three members that I've run into multiple times are on their way to the tournament."

"Well that's not good," Maddy dead panned, picking Corona up off the ground and stroking her back. "What should we do?"

Max sighed. "What can we do- we're ten, for crying out loud! We need more training before we can do anything important!"

Max cut off his rant as the sound of approaching footsteps from the forest echoed through their campsite. Max focused his attention to the magnificent Togekiss who had waddled over in his direction.

"Hey, Blue and Red!" Maddy called. "Is everything all right?"

The older girl nodded, her curls bouncing up and down. "Yeah. We're clear. Since our teams are fed, I think we should set out for a short training session."

Ash smiled as he watched the signature gleam of excitement glimmer in Max's eyes. He remembered when he used to feel like that- eager to learn new things, expectant of new things to come.

"Max, can you call out your Ralts?"

The beginner nodded, and his psychic-type appeared before them.

"What moves can he use?" Ash inquired as Pikachu settled himself on top of his left shoulder.

"Growl, Confusion, Double Team, and Teleport," Max announced. "I know it's not much, but we've gotten along fine."

"Everyone has to start somewhere. Blue, you've got a bit more experience with psychics- do you have any strategy ideas for Max and Ralts?" Ash asked, playing with the short end of his ponytail.

"Using Teleport for offense," Aurian offered. "It's a rather unusual strategy, because most people see that move as an emergency escape route. While Ralts is in between locations, have him prepare an attack, and preferably land on top of your target."

Max grinned. "Gee, I never thought of using Teleport like that!"

Ash shrugged. "Like Blue mentioned earlier, it's uncommon. We both learned it from our mentor a year ago. I don't have a Psychic type with me, but the strategy works equally well with moves like Agility and ExtremeSpeed."

The two young trainers nodded wordlessly.

"Who's your mentor?" asked Max.

He knew that if Red would answer, he'd be one step closer to figuring out who he worked for.

Ash frowned, considering how to answer the question. "A man we know heads a prestigious training organization. We were lucky enough to be noticed because of our skills, and he invited us to train under him."

Max looked a little put out from not getting a specific answer, but nodded anyways.

"For Corona," pondered Ash. "I would advise you to keep SmokeScreen around once she learns it. I've been in tournaments where Typhlosion's smoke has saved my tail a few times. It's both an offensive and defensive move."

Maddy nodded attentively. "Yes, sir!"

Ash allowed a small smile. "Please- I'm seventeen. There's no need to call me Sir- Red will suffice."

Max tucked Red's age away in his brain. Ash was fifteen when he vanished, and that was two and a half years ago...

Aurian checked her watch, and a resounding grumble could be heard throughout the campsite, drawing everyone's attention. The copper-haired girl shrugged. "It's eleven thirty. Is anyone else hungry?"

Max nodded. "Yeah, I'm starved!"

Maddy returned Corona to her Pokéball, and tapped Max on the shoulder.

"Race ya!" she yelled, taking off at a dead sprint towards the Center.

Max took off as well. "Hey, no fair! Wait up!"

* * *

Aurian and Ash chuckled at the new trainers' enthusiasm, returned their various team members, and started off towards the center.

"Max seems like a good trainer, from what I've seen so far," Aurian offered, twirling the pendant of her necklace around its chain.

Ash allowed a small smile. "Yeah. He's gonna go far."

"How are you holding up?" his patonai asked. "This can't be easy for you."

He sighed. Yes, you're right. This isn't easy. It's taking all of my self-restraint to keep from blowing my cover. You know how I felt after the Sinnoh incident- it was a physical, emotional, and mental battering."

Aurian put a hand on his unoccupied shoulder. "You'll floor them at the tournament itself. They will never doubt your strength again."

"They weren't doubting. They were right. I wasn't strong enough."

The girl sighed. Look. We've taken down Cipher, Galactic, and the Johto branch of Rocket. You handled most of the Galactic takedown on your own, and wonderfully at that. You're going to win this tournament, Red," she whispered, "and you'll never doubt yourself again."

The two eventually came back to the Center, where they entered to find Max and Maddy waiting on them at a table.

"Who won?" Ash asked.

Maddy grinned, while Max hung his head.

"Well," Aurian countered, "that solves that. What kind of food is served here?"

Max shrugged. "Nurse Joy said that she'd bring us bread, peanut butter, and jelly. That sounded good, so I said sure."

Ash grinned. "I could go for a PBJ right now."

As he spoke, a Chansey dropped off their dinner plates with a happy announcement. After much thanking, the rotund pink Pokémon bounced off back towards her station. The table fell silent as the four kids fell upon their food, practically demolishing it in their hunger.

Aurian finished first, and as she wiped her mouth on a disposable cloth napkin, she paled as a figure approached the table.

"Blue, is something wrong?" asked Max.

Maddy frowned and put a hand on the older girl's shoulder. "Yeah, you don't look all that good."

Ash bit his lip when he saw the girl approaching. He knew why Aurian was nervous. The aura-user had told him about her rather... turbulent past. He knew the girl from his old traveling days through Sinnoh.

Guess she never knew that Rebecca Makushisa would be here.

Aurian had to repress a sigh when the bluenette walked past her to another table. The trainees exchanged curious looks.

"She was extremely rude and degrading towards my team and I when we started out. Things are different now, but still..."

Pikachu jumped from Ash's shoulder to Aurian's, and provided a caring nuzzle and a reassuring 'Chaaaaaaa'. The older girl immediately perked up, and set the electric rodent back on his trainer's shoulder with a smile.

As Ash glanced back over his shoulder, he saw yet another familiar face- this one topped with spiky red hair that would make a Qwilfish jealous. A yellow shirt, battered dark blue jeans with a red racing stripe, a waist pack, and a headband completed the extent of his clothing. A strange bionic device covered his shoulder and hand, connected by a wire that ran the length of his arm.

Only two people in the world were in possession of a Snag Machine, and one of them was raising a family.

_"Michael," _Ash breathed.

Lance's representative.

* * *

_**(A/N): Hello, everyone, and thanks for reading chapter three! I'll take some time to respond to everyone's lovely reviews-**_

_**BlueBlackFantasy- Wow, thank you so much! Ash's crew didn't really do anything mean, but that will be explained in due time. **_

_**partner555- Yes, the break from canon happens at the end of Sinnoh. I don't like the way that the anime went from there. And as for Ash's dislike of Dark-types: all will be explained.**_

_**PL signing off!**_


	4. Unexpected

Max cocked his head. "Red, who's Michael?"

Aurian smiled. "He's an old friend of Red and I's. We met in Orre."

Ash waved a hand over his head, letting the red-headed boy see their location. He ambled over to their table, pulled up a chair, and plopped down in it, resting his arms on the back.

"Hey, Michael," Aurian greeted. "Not to be rude, but shouldn't you still be in Orre?"

The newcomer shrugged. "Nah, I gained clearance to leave. Jovi is back with Mom, helping run the HQ Lab. After the XD001 incident, Lab security is off the charts. The Professor sent me to the different regions in search of any other Shadow Pokémon, but I haven't seen any so far. Apparently, Mr. Goodshow heard of my crazy adventure, and sent me an entry letter."

He held up a parchment letter with the blue League seal, confirming his last statement.

Maddy's curiosity got the better of her. "What's the XD001 thingy you mentioned earlier?"

Ash answered before anyone else. "A criminal syndicate named Cipher was closing the doors to Pokémon's hearts. Michael, Blue, and I helped in shutting them down for good."

Max frowned, his eyes narrowing behind his black-framed glasses. "It's not that simple, is it?"

"Yes, you're right. There's a lot that's still considered classified League information," Ash replied hastily. The two rookies looked rather confused, but accepted the older trainer's tale with a little suspicion. Max made an internal promise to get to a computer database as soon as possible to look up news articles about the media-deemed 'Orre Crisis'.

Aurian smiled. "Anyways, do you have a rookie trainer to mentor?"

"Yeah, but he's not here yet. I picked up his P*DA number, and gave him a ring. He'll be here on the first day of competition. Red, could you walk with me, please?"

The older trainer nodded, and followed Michael outside to a quiet area of the surrounding arena.

"Lance wanted me to give you this," Michael replied, passing over a small data chip and an envelope. "Check this out, then give me a ring if you see anything strange. I'll be running covert operations and background checks whenever I'm not battling. One question, before I go... why are you using your code names?"

Ash sighed. "Look, it's a long story, but my old traveling partners are here, and I'm not quite comfortable with coming out of hiding yet. So Aurian and I decided to stay low."

Michael snorted. "Until you blow everyone out of the water during the Prelims. It'll start getting challenging for you two around the top 40."

"Hopefully."

"See you later, Ash, I've got to go register," Michael said, clapping the black-haired trainer on the Pikachu-unoccupied shoulder. "If we're lucky, we won't run into each other in the battle bracket until the end of the tournament."

The seafoam green eyed trainer walked off into the shadows. Ash wasn't surprised that Michael had been given an invitation. He specialized in double battles, since that was Orre's custom and standard, but he could adjust easily to single, triple, or rotation battles, as he had already proven back on their escapade. If the two ended up facing each other, things could definitely get rather interesting.

He returned to his table, took his seat, and finished off his third sandwich. "So, Max, I take it that you'd like to challenge the gyms?"

The younger boy nodded. "Yeah! Since my dad is a gym leader, I've grown up in the gym enviornment. I couldn't see myself chasing any different dream."

Maddy frowned. "Blue, where'd Michael go, and what was that thing on his arm?"

"Michael had to go sign in at the Center, since he hasn't officially registered for the Tournament yet. As for the device on his arm- it's called a Snag Machine. It can steal a Shadow Pokémon's pokéball from whoever turned the poor creature's heart from pure to locked. Michael also has an aura reader disguised in his headband, which helps him spot Shadow Pokemon."

"From what I've read," interjected Max, "Shadow Pokémon look just like any others of their species."

"That's true, but their aura is a dark purple or black," Ash responded, crossing his arms. Pikachu nodded, confirming what his trainer said. "The Aura Reader lets one who can't naturally see auras observe them. It's a rather neat device, and I've had the pleasure of testing a beta model when Blue and I were in Orre."

Ash felt a tap on his back, and whipped around, nearly throwing an extremely disgruntled Pikachu off his shoulder. Behind him was a slim girl in her mid teens, her hair tied in a spiky ponytail and her green eyes gleaming with confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone that I knew," she commented, embarassed. "I'll leave now..."

"Hey, Misty, wait!" Max yelled. Misty smiled when she saw the rookie trainer, and traded a high five with him.

"It's so good to see you, Max! Who are your friends?"

Ash noticed that she was still wearing the same outfit that she was when he last video called her- a red sleeveless leotard under a pale yellow no-sleeve shirt with a big blue button on the front, along with yellow shorts and orange boots. Her Spheal backpack hung, lopsided, off of one shoulder.

"This is Red, my mentor for the duration of the Tournament," Ash dipped his head in Misty's direction, "Maddy," the blond girl waved in a friendly manner, "and Blue, Maddy's mentor." The curly-haired girl smiled. "Both of them are amazing teachers! Are you competing?"

Misty nodded, showing a neatly folded letter that she pulled from a small pocket in her backpack. "Yeah. I called Brock before I left, and he said that he might be able to make it. He won't be competing though, but Forrest, his brother, earned an invitation."

"Where's Azurill?" Max asked. "I've never seen you without her."

Misty grinned. "She's evolved all the way into an Azumarill! She's a cornerstone on my team, and she'll be seeing a lot of battles here, hopefully." She looked towards Maddy and Blue, who looked confused, and hastily added that she was the Cerulean Gym Leader, who specialized in Water-types.

"Since you specialize in Water-types, could you take a look at one of my Pokémon?" asked Aurian. "I'd like to have a great trainer- such as yourself- give me a few good training ideas."

Misty looked a little taken aback, but nodded. "Yes, of course. May I see it?"

"Here goes- Empoleon, come on out!"

The Emperor Pokémon appeared, and let loose a proud caw. She tapped her chest and gave a little bow towards Misty.

"Wow, I'm impressed. This is a fine water-type! Her coat looks very clean and shiny, and her trident-horns look to be in very good shape. What moves does she know?"

Aurian frowned. "I've had to teach her a few moves to combat her weaknesses, since she's part Steel, but she knows Hydro Cannon, Earthquake, Brick Break, and Ice Beam."

"You should really consider teaching her how to use Surf. Not only is it a great offensive move, but it can be used in close quarters to fight off approaching enemies, since I know that some Empoleon have difficulty maximizing their speed stats," Misty suggested. "Also, you could try teaching her Aqua Ring, if that's possible. Most Empoleons that I've seen are like tanks in the fact that they can take hits extremely well. Having something restore health during battle might be an added bonus."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you," Aurian replied. "Would you like to join us? I can go grab an extra chair."

"No no, that's okay," the redhead responded, "I was just about to find a nice spot to train. I suppose I'll see you two at the tournament's opening ceremonies."

As she moved to walk off, she asked a question that she knew she'd regret asking.

"Red, are you related to someone named Ash Ketchum?"

The crimson eyed boy- that was where his name came from!- shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't say that I am."

"I'll see you around, then," she responded, briskly walking off through a door towards where a lake was located.

The group of four watched the doors close behind the gym leader's retreating form, and then cleaned their table and left themselves.

* * *

Ash, Aurian, Maddy, and Max sat under a large tree, observing trainers and occasional battles that were happening around the arena. Several officials, clad in neon yellow and orange shirts, were helping people navigate the large island. Ferries came and went from the one port on the landmass, bringing groups of people to and from the competition. A few television crews were interviewing trainers and spectators.

"Red, is this level of craziness _normal_ for tournaments like this?" Max asked.

The trainer nodded. "Yep. When I competed in the Silver Conference in Johto, the stadium held over fifty-thousand people for my last battle. I'd say that the island is at about three-fifths capacity in spectators right now. Blue, could you look up how many people this tournament can seat?"

Aurian pulled a PokéNav from her back pocket, booted up the search function, and inputed the question. "Sixty-five thousand, four hundred twenty seven," she responded, flipping the device closed.

Their attention was drawn to a faceoff towards the docks, where a teenager stood, his face reddening, in front of another boy roughly his age. Ash watched as both hands started moving towards their belts, and he was over in a flash, standing inbetween the two boys.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but battling right now wouldn't be a good idea. The tournament starts in three days- why would you even consider putting your teammates at risk of serious injury before they even have a chance to prove themselves?"

The first boy, his hair a darkish purple, shot Ash a look of loathing. "What are you doing here? This isn't your fight."

Ash sighed. "I'm trying to save you a lot of trouble."

The other boy, his hair a spiky sandy brown and face a bright red, rolled his eyes. "He said I wasn't _worthy_ of the tournament, when I've kicked his sorry butt all the way to Kanto and back!"

"Let the tournament decide who is the better trainer," Ash pondered, his feigned crimson eyes darkening. "Violence is a last resort. What would all these people think of you if you suddenly started brawling in public?"

Two pairs of eyes widened, then dimmed.

"Who do you think you are, telling us what to do? We should be fighting him_ instead!_" the purple haired trainer exclaimed. The brown-haired boy pulled a Pokéball from his belt, releasing a Skarmory. The other boy wordlessly called for a Weavile.

Ash frowned. "Well, this is troubling. Pikachu, you ready to battle?"

"Pika!" the little yellow rodent exclaimed, jumping off of his trainer's shoulder. The distinctive sound of another Pokéball opening revealed a Mienshao, courtesy of Aurian, who aimed a salute towards Ash.

"Ready when you are!" she announced, tensing.

"We never said that you could call a friend!" the purple haired trainer remarked, frustrated.

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Neither did you."

The atmosphere was tense as a pulled wire as silence fell over the four trainers. No one made the first move- attacking first would be a sign of aggression.

Maddy grabbed Max's hand and squeezed it tight. "Max, I'm worried."

"I am too."

The silence continued- Aurian's gaze never left the medium brown eyes of the spiky-haired opposing trainer, who was caught a little off guard by the intensity of her glare. Ash, however, regarded the purple-haired trainer with a cool look while fiddling with the edge of his shirt, which agitated his target even fur. Finally, the purple haired trainer cracked.

"Weavile, use Metal Claw."

_So much for staying out of trouble, _Ash pondered.

* * *

_**(A/N): Review response time! Thanks so much for reading up to this point!**_

_**partner555: Yes, Rebecca is a coordinator, and she and Aurian go way back, unfortunately... **_

_**PL, signing off! **_


	5. Coincidence

"Weavile, use Metal Claw!"

"Pikachu, dodge that and prepare for an Agility combo!" Ash called, clenching a fist by his side. His electric-type flipped gracefully over the charging dual-type, and shot off in a zig-zag pattern. Suddenly, the blur that was Pikachu started glowing a bright sunshine yellow, and a massive Thunderbolt shot off from all directions, frying the Weavile.

Ash kept pressing the fist, and was fully aware that he'd probably have little cresent-moon shaped marks in his palm.

Unfortunately, the dark/ice type was used to taking hard hits, and stood up- albeit a little shakily.

Aurian had her hands full with that Skarmory- the flying type was just a little faster than her Mienshao, which made her have to switch strategies. That wasn't a problem, of course, but it was still rather bothersome. She knew that Yuan could handle the challenge, but still didn't let her guard down.

"Double Team!" yelled the spiky-haired male, and copies of the steel bird appeared throughout the sky.

"Now use Aerial Ace!"

The copies turned a blue-white sheen as they dove towards the fighting-type.

"Yuan, take a Protect and get out of there as soon as possible!"

A blue shield made of aura appeared, blocking the copies and dissolving them as they attacked. The real Skarmory bounced off the shield, leaving a crater about a foot in diameter in the dirt that comprised their battlefield.

At this point, people from all over had gathered in a semi-circle to watch the four trainers duke it out. Aurian shoved her hair out of her face, and kept ordering offensive moves, but to no avail- that Skarmory was just too fast. She caught Ash's eyes, and he nodded, signing another hand signal. This one consisted of tapping two fingers against his temple three times.

_I've got your back._

"Pika, get in there and help Yuan! Aim a Thunderbolt at Skarmory!"

"Likewise, Yuan, use Aura Sphere on Weavile!"

Yellow electricity and a pulsating blue sphere of aura impacted at the same time, creating smoke that obscured both opponents and Pokémon alike.

Ash closed his eyes and let his aura-sight activate. A wash of cerulean blue filled his mind, and an image of the battlefield appeared.

_Dang, Gary and Paul have been training... that Aura Sphere should've taken down Weavile. Skarmory is nearly finished, though, that's a good thing. Best take advantage of all this smoke before I lose my opportunity..._

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail on Skarmory, he's about seven feet starboard!"

A cry of "Chu-pi-ka!" could be heard through the smoke, along with a slightly metallic sounding screech. Ash watched the steel-type faint. As the smoke cleared, Gary stared in shock at his fallen teammate as Ash's vision returned to normal.

Aurian was quicker than Paul to react to the sudden change of events- one Close Combat later, and the Weavile was history. It hit the ground with a resounding thud, and the crowd started applauding and returned to what they were doing before the battle broke out.

The two boys returned their teammates, and Paul sent a particularly stony glare towards the patonai. Gary, however, gave a confused glance at the two teens.

"How'd you know where Skarmory was?"

Ash smiled- an action so small that it was easily lost upon his old rival. "Sorry, I don't reveal my secrets. Blue, you ready to head out?"

The curly-haired trainer nodded. "Yeah. Yuan, you did great out there. Return!"

"Pikachu, back, please." The electric rodent bounded back up to Ash's shoulder, where he earned a loving scratch behind the ears as congratulations for a battle well done.

Ash watched as the two walked away, and was dragged out of his thoughts by Max and Maddy's excited chatter about the battle.

"Man, when all that smoke came up, I thought they were in for trouble!" Maddy exclaimed, throwing her arms out to her sides.

"Yeah, and I really liked Blue's strategy against that Skarmory! That was a really good idea to choose defense over an offensive," Max announced, scratching his head.

"Why thank you," the older trainer replied. "I learned that difference the hard way in one of my League matches. Nearly lost, then came to my senses when it was down to my Empoleon and I. I've always taken the time to analyze my options since then."

"But how do you do that so fast?" Maddy asked, biting her lip.

Ash smiled. "Years of practice. It gets easier after you've been in a lot of battles. Pikachu here was my starter, so he knows what I'm thinking before I even say it, most of the time."

Max frowned at the information that Red announced. Ash had a Pikachu as a starter, as well... there had to be at least some connection between the two trainers. "Anyways, why is your Mienshao called Yuan? Is there a story behind that?"

Blue shrugged. "Nah. I just liked the name, and she agreed to it. I've found that it's nice to have shorter names for battle, so you can react faster."

By that time, the sun had started to sink beneath the blue waves. Max's stomach grumbled, which caught Ash's attention.

"Your sister wanted you back at the Center for dinner, correct?"

Max sighed. "Is it wrong for me to say that I don't want to go back?"

Ash shook his head. "No, it isn't. We should still check in with them, though, just to be safe."

"It's just... all I've ever been known as is May Maple's little brother. I want people to know my name in addition to my sister's. That I'm not some sort of shadow."

Aurian put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "You can change that, now. Now that you're a trainer, you have the freedom to determine your own fate."

Max smiled. "Yeah."

Ash noted his lack of enthusiasm as the group of four entered the Center doors, and looked for May. He found her almost immediately- she was chatting with Dawn, Nando, and Kenny, who must've been there to support Nando. May caught sight of her brother, and waved him over.

"Max, thought you'd never get here. This is Dawn," the bluenette gave a friendly wave, "Nando," the long-haired man tilted the brim of his hat, "and Kenny." The auburn-headed boy grinned at the mention of his name.

"May, you already know these three, but this is A-Red, Blue, and Maddy."

Max winced when he almost called Red 'Ash'. It was wrong, but the two of them were so alike, but he couldn't put a finger on why he thought the two were so similar. Yes, the Pikachu starter and Kanto birthplace were purely coincidental, but there was something else behind it. He remembered a lesson that his dad taught him.

_Once is an abnormality, twice is a coincidence, and three is a pattern, and there are no such things as coincidences. _He could almost hear his father lightly chastising him within his mind as he watched his mentors and new friends interact with his sister's social group. She seemed a little more at ease among her friends, he noticed. That was good. She'd been isolating herself too much after her last Contest failure. Her Glaceon came up and rubbed against his leg, distracting him from his ponderings.

He absentmindedly patted her blue head, and then slipped off on his own towards a computer. He needed a database with news articles- what else could verify Red's brief mentions about his misadventures in Orre?

Ash left the Center soon after he watched Max drift towards the computers. He slid out the door, inserted the microchip that Michael gave him into his old and beaten up Sinnoh Pokédex, and a fuzzy form in the shape of a reversed 'L' appeared on the screen.

His breath hitched in his throat. Oh Arceus. This wasn't good. He could tell from the sprite that this thing, whatever it was, was not natural in the slightest.

_Lance appeared on the screen, his eyes grave._

_"Ashton Azaiah Ketchum and Aurian Lillian Borealis, I hope that you're watching this. We've recieved intel that Team Rocket has successfully created a new artificial Pokémon... known as MissingNO."_


	6. Discovery

Max sat down on one of the uncushioned stools provided by the Center and booted up the computer in front of him. It was an old- nah, more like ancient- name brand desktop that looked like it had been through a war or two. Initials, hearts, and the occasional insult were written onto the side of the battered machine with multicolored permanent markers, which had been bleached off by one of the Nurse Joys so that nothing but the outlines of the words remained. He pressed the power-on button, and watched as the computer started itself up. He opened a search browser, and found a website solely dedicated to current events in Orre. After much fruitless searching and frantic deleting- and a couple exclamations of 'For the love of Arceus'- he found an article, dating from a year and a half ago.

"Three teenagers stop Cipher!" he read aloud, propping his head on his left hand. "Wonder if there're any pictures..."

And sure enough, there were. An undercover agent for the League had watched the final battle against the boss of the criminal organization, and had been lucky enough to have a camera- even if it was of questionable quality- on him. Max immediately recognized Michael- his distinctive hair, even when thrown into shadow, was a dead giveaway. An Espeon was at his side, preparing to use a move of some sort. Blue was a little harder to spot, but a blur with flying curls tucked under a strange looking cap with a Mienfoo at her side proved to be the older trainer.

Red, however, took him longer to find than he liked to admit. The older boy had grown his hair out since when the picture was taken, and a Quilava and Pikachu were duking it out with an unseen opponent in the shot. He too wore a weird hat- like an overlarge sweatband with a short three-pointed windsock attached to it- in the last picture, where he was ordering his teammates while carrying an unconscious Pikachu. And in that moment, Max swore that he could see Ash in the sprawl of Red's shadow.

He scanned all the articles about the 'Cipher Crisis' that he could find, but couldn't find any other names than the one he knew.

Blue. Red. Those couldn't be their real names- what kind of parents name their kids after primary colors?

He remembered something about how Red was on that conference with the Rangers and Lance... didn't he say something about 'superiors' to Aurian after that call ended?

_What if Lance was their superior?_

Max shook his head. Nah. Lance didn't have time for stuff like that- being the current Champion of both Kanto and Johto left no time for extra shenannigans. He had to stay on his toes to keep his title. That meant that he was training his dragon-types for seven, eight hours a day, easily. If he couldn't find out anything else about Lance, then maybe he could find a lead through his mentors...

He pulled up a trainer database, and entered 'Red Aronshu' into the search bar. A short list of gym records and assorted challenges came up along with a hometown of 'Kanto'- but none of the Hoenn dates coincided with his travels with Ash Ketchum, which disproved his theory that Red really was Ash. Out of curiosity, he inputed 'Blue Katrian', as well, and got the same results, along with a picture of the older girl in a League Conference alongside her Empoleon, nicknamed Azul. Her Orre challenge dates coincided with Red's, proving that they really did go to the region together.

He sighed, and turned off the computer when he realized that his friends were probably wondering what was taking him so long. As he moved to head back to Blue and Maddy, he looked through a window and noticed Red standing outside of the Center, holding what looked like a microchip and a newer-model Pokédex.

* * *

Ash bit down on the inside of his cheek in shock, and tasted blood soon afterwards. He had seen artificial or manmade Pokémon before- Porygon, Genesect, Mewtwo, Castform... but this was... different. The picture that popped up behind Lance's spiky-haired head didn't even look remotely like anything he had ever seen. There was no definite body... only a fuzzy and glitchy-looking reversed _L_.

_What if it's sentient?_ Ash pondered. He shook his head and plugged a pair of G-Men issued navy-blue earbuds into his Dex. Couldn't afford for anyone else to catch wind of this information.

Lance continued his speech. "We don't know anything about its moveset, but our agents have confirmed that this 'MissingNO' is of Normal typing. I'll forward more information through Michael or a few of our other agents when I find out more. I trust you, Ashton. I want you and Miss Borealis, as the leaders of the Aura Armanda, to start hunting down Rocket operatives. Jessie, James, and Meowth are currently in our custody, and have disclosed that Domino and her underlings, along with others, are competing with faked resumes. Once you find them, knock them out and call me. Dragon Master out."

The screen went black. Ash pulled the microchip from his Pokédex and put it back in the envelope that Michael had passed to him. Aurian had to see this. She was a lot better at noticing things out of the ordinary- she'd love the challenge of finding the hidden Rocket operatives.

As he walked off towards the cafeteria, he felt Max's eyes watching him from the window in the computer lab. He smiled slightly and kept his pace. He knew that the little guy was onto him, and wasn't surprised in the least. Nothing got past Max Maple without notice.

Ash stuck his hands inside of his pockets and observed as a chilly wind began to blow from the northeast. _Change is coming,_ he pondered. _This tournament won't know what hit it once Michael, Aurian and I get into the mix._

* * *

Both Ash and Max rejoined the girls at their table at the same time. Aurian saw the grave look hidden within Ash's eyes, and just gave him an understanding smile. She knew that he had received some bad news, and wondered how bad it could possibly be if he was this freaked out. In the two and a half years that she had known her patonai, she had never seen him this worried.

_Hope for the best, expect the worst, _she thought with a smile. That was one of the first things that the G-Men drilled into her during initiation. It really was true, and she wondered why she didn't realize the truth in that statement earlier in her journey. Over the years, it had become something of a mantra for her.

Ash smiled as he listened to May and Dawn's Contest chatter. It was rather unusual that every single one of his old traveling companions and rivals were either here at the Global Invitational or on their way. Kinda funny how things turned out. Apparently Dawn had won the Hoenn Grand Festival during his absence, and was working on a fashion designing career with her Buneary and the rest of her team.

A door opened, revealing a familiar spiky-haired face and a miniature replica of him. Ash would know those squinty eyes and that self-assured stride anywhere.

Brock and Forrest had arrived.

And, of course, Brock ran straight for the nearest Nurse Joy. "Oh, my darling, has anyone ever told you how your hair shines like rose quartz or how your eyes are as bright as a Hyper Beam?!..."

The ex-gym leader was cut off by a Poison Jab to the stomach, courtesy of his trusty Croagunk. Forrest, completely unfazed by his brother's actions, stepped over Brock's limp body to register with Joy, who was completely shocked by the rather arbitrary turn of events. Ash laughed internally as the poison-type started dragging his trainer off into the shadows. Aurian shot her patonai a look, and Ash responded with a casual shrug. Max started laughing, while turning to Maddy and exclaiming, "Man, I should've ran over there and pulled on his ear! What memories!"

"You know that creeper?" she asked, blowing a strand of blond hair out of her face.

Max sighed in an overdramatic manner, which made his three friends laugh. "Yeah. That's Brock, the ex-gym leader of Pewter City. His little brother, Forrest, took over his position when he decided to travel full time with Ash, May, and I back in Hoenn. We've all seen some pretty wacky stuff, ranging from all of us nearly dying at the Tree of Beginning to meeting a Deoxys to stopping the theft of a Manaphy egg..."

Maddy listened attentively, her eyes wide, as Max launched into the stories of some of his crazy adventures with his old friends and sister. Max had seen so much as a rookie trainer, which greatly impressed her. And he had met so many Legendaries, which some people never even dreamed of seeing!

Eventually, the sun started setting, meaning that Maddy had to go check into a room. She waved farewell to her mentors and new friend, and asked them to meet her in the cafeteria at eight the next morning as she summoned an elevator.

"She's a good kid," Ash said with a smile as he watched the elevator doors close.

Aurian grinned. "Yeah. I can't wait to start teaching her some of the tricks that I've learned. Hey Max, do you need to rent a room?"

The rookie trainer shook his head. "Nah. If you don't mind, can I crash back at your campsite? I've got a sleeping bag and all my stuff in my backpack."

"I don't see why not," Ash responded, as Pikachu yawned from his shoulder. "We'd best be heading back- it'll be dark soon."

The three trainers exited the Center just as the sun started its decent to the horizon.

* * *

Max as asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Ash made sure that he could hear the boy's distinctive- and rather annoying- snores, then tossed the microchip-containing envelope to Aurian.

"Michael slipped this to me earlier today. It's not pretty."

She plugged it into her top-grade Unova Pokédex, along with a pair of earbuds. Ash watched her face turn from normal to shocked to grave in a matter of seconds.

"He's serious if he's using our full names," she muttered. Ash smiled despite the situation. Aurian nodded once, twice, then carefully wound her headphones back up and removed the chip. She ground it under the heel of her combat boot, effectively destroying the information.

"Arceus..." she whispered, shaking her head. "Rocket's really screwed with us this time. Who knows what this MissingNO can do."

"We'll need to be on our guard. You remember Domino, right?"

She grimaced. "Sadly. The little cheerleader seemed to have a _minor_ grudge against us."

"We did destroy her entire stock of electric tulips and completely disgrace her in front of her Boss," Ash offered. "Do you think that's why?"

The two of them paused. "_Nah_," they said in unison. Quiet laughter broke out between the two as they unrolled their sleeping bags and stretched out under the beautiful Sinnoh sky.

"Red?" Aurian whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I'm getting kinda worried. We've gotten wind of three different organizations being involved, there could be spies out there..."

He frowned. "You're not normally this nervous during missions."

"Not during the kick-butt parts where we win, like how we took Gary and Paul down this morning. All this espionage stuff isn't really my thing. That's more you- blending into the shadows all ghost-type-like, gaining information without ever being seen."

"Well, our coworkers did call me the Cerulean Shadow during initiation training."

"It's stuck with you since then. Mine was always 'hey you' or 'that one girl'."

"I distinctly remember two veterans referring to you as 'Braveheart.' Does that count?"

She smiled. "Yeah. Thanks for being here for me."

"Isn't that what patonai are for?"

"See you in the morning."

Ash laid on his back, Pikachu snoozing by his head, and gazed up at the stars. He knew that somewhere, his mom was watching the sky as well, and most likely thinking of him. She knew of his induction into the G-Men, and tearfully accepted his departure into the oblivion of disguise, knowing that she probably wouldn't see him again for a very long time. He missed her quite a bit. Over the years that he had been away from home, he had learned to appreciate good cooking when he could find it, which was kind of rare in his occupation.

Maybe he'd get to go home after the tournament- and all this Rocket, Cipher, and Galactic wackiness- ended.

* * *

_**(A/N): Hello, readers! Thanks for reading Chapter 6! I'll be responding to reviews from here on out.**_

_**partner555: Hope the last two chapters have proved your guesses correct. **_

_**NaturalGieling: I pull inspiration from everything, really. If I find an element of something that I really like, I try to put a spin on it to fit my style of writing. **_

_**EmeraldDragon1: Thank you so much for being a great Beta Reader! Your advice really brings a lot to the story. Let these last two chapters be the beginning of a wonderful tag-team.**_

_**gallantmon7196: Why thank you! I figured that a certain glitch needed a formal fanfiction debut, since I've seen a certain lack of MissingNO on this site. **_

_**Special thanks to all who have followed/favorited, and don't forget to review! PL, signing off! **_


	7. Surprises

**_(A/N): I know these are normally at the bottom, but I need to thank you guys really quick. DANG. Never thought that I'd hit 1000 views in only six chapters! This is now my most popular fanfic! Thank you so much, and on to the chapter! -PL_**

* * *

The next morning dawned with the stereotypical sound of Starly and Pidgey chirping, Caterpie and Wurmple squealing at the bright sunlight, and Aurian groaning and burying her face into her pillow.

The sun rose way too early for her liking. She nudged Ash, who was currently snoring, and Pikachu, who was sleeping on Ash's head, awake. She dodged a weak Thunderbolt from the disgruntled electric-type, who then looked at her with wide and apologetic brown eyes.

"No worries, little guy. I get it. You're grumpy in the morning, just like your trainer."

"Pika-aa," the yellow rodent yawned, stretching his tiny limbs and long tail. Ash, however, rolled back over and nestled himself further down into his red and navy blue sleeping bag. The Pokémon and the other half of the patonai pair made eye contact. Pikachu started charging electricity, his red cheeks sparking. Aurian squeezed her eyes shut, and plugged her ears.

A large Thunder cracked through the area, shooting through Ash's figure and startling Max awake with a yell. Ash fell back on his sleeping bag, twitching from the overload of power.

"Mornin' to you too, Pika."

His partner squealed happily and repeatedly nudged his shoulder. Max and Aurian laughed, and started rolling up their bags and gathering their things. Aurian ran a brush through her hair, tied it up in a single Ponyta-tail, and stood up.

"We should go find Maddy- she's probably waiting on us," Max pondered. Ash nodded, and followed his friends into the Center. On the way there, Michael appeared, stretching his arms and walking alongside his Espeon.

"Morning, guys! I just recieved an email from my trainee- he said that he'd be getting here a day early!" Michael announced with a huge grin. "Can't wait to meet him. Said his name was Noah, and he's from Lavender Town over in Kanto."

"That's great!" Ash replied, high-fiving his red-haired friend. "What time does his boat get in?"

Michael turned over his shoulder and gazed at the port. "9:30, I believe- it's quite a long journey by boat. Kid must be really dedicated."

"I've done some calculations," Max answered, shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "and the ride from Kanto to Sinnoh is almost as long as it is from here to Hoenn. Felt like that ride was eternal."

Aurian smiled. "You think that's bad? Try going from Canalave City to Castelia in Unova. Takes two weeks, at least, by boat. I would've gone by plane, but the tickets were way overpriced."

As she spoke, they entered the Center to find Maddy and Corona waiting on them. The blond-haired girl traded greetings with the rest of her crew as they gathered around a table in the cafeteria after grabbing breakfast from a buffet line. Max was overjoyed- finally, something that could satisfy his huge appetite!

Michael watched the pair of patonai interact with their trainees while he quietly fed his Espeon, nicknamed Saga, who purred happily and rubbed against his leg, and continued his observation as he devoured his potato and egg omelette. The two were a natural pair- he had seen their aura abilities in action, and knew that both of the trainers held a devistating force inside of them. Luckily, he had only seen them pushed to their limits once- and the resulting brawl was not pleasant to watch. Both of them were skilled in hand-to-hand as well as Pokémon battles... he shuddered at the thought, and finished his last bite of egg before chomping down on a slice of toast.

As the five and their Pokémon friends finished their meal, Ash's attention was drawn to the doors sliding open. A person he hadn't seen in four years appeared through them, her lilac hair and eyes shining like the sun. She had kept her original vest, but opted for a not-so-puffy sleeved purple shirt and a pair of yellow skinny jeans. Her hair, he noticed, had grown to her shoulders, and that distinctive Miltank lick on top of her head still remained.

They locked eyes, and Ash knew that his guise of Red wouldn't stand as long as she was here. Anabel's eyes narrowed as bit her lip, but then smiled.

_Don't worry, Ash. I'll keep your secret,_ she thought towards him with a wink. She turned over her left shoulder, and then vanished into the throng of people congregating by the registration area. Fortunately, no one at his table noticed his brief distraction from the conversation, and he threw himself back in it with a little extra gusto. As he interacted with his friends and trainees, he wondered exactly how strong the Salon Maiden was now. She was limited to extended empathy the last time he had met her.

_It has been four years. Look at what I've become, after all. Bet Anabel's way different from the way she was back in the 'glory' days._

As the clock kept ticking, they eventually resorted to people-watching from their corner table. Ash saw quite a few of his old friends register and recieve names the way that he did earlier.

"So I take it that there's no limit on Gym Leaders and Battle Frontier Leaders competing?" Maddy asked, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

Michael shrugged. "Nope. Some Elite Four members will be fighting exhibition battles on request with anyone who makes it to the top 20, but that won't happen until at least a week or two from now. I really hope I'll be in there- I have a bone to pick with Will and Lucian. Said my Espeon was second class... not for long," he trailed off, fiddling with the wire that connected the Snag Machine palm to its base on his shoulder.

"It'll be interesting to see how that plays out," Aurian responded, returning Azul to her Pokéball. "I've fought most of the Leaders that I've seen here, and I've had a few email me and ask for rematches."

Ash frowned. "I've never had that happen..."

"Dad's called a few people back," Max piped up. "But only if he feels that they're worthy of a rematch. I've only seen two people come back- some kid a few years older than May named Brendan, and a kid with red hair named Silver. Both of them were really good. I was really little when Dad rematched Brendan, but I remember his brawl with Silver like it was yesterday..."

Max felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around to find his sister. "Yeah, I remember that, too! It came down to the wire between Slaking and that Feraligatr of his..."

"Sounds like a fascinating battle," Michael responded. "It's almost nine-thirty, and I need to go pick up my trainee from the docks. I'll be back in a flash."

The rest of his table nodded and waved him off, and the red-haired trainer smiled as May took his seat. She'd probably try to flirt with Ash. The poor boy was completely unaware of anything slightly romantic, which he found incredibly amusing. Heck, he was two years younger than the guy and he caught hints way faster. Saga walked happily by his side as they approached the docks, and they eventually sat down on a bench to wait. The pink feline jumped up next to him and curled up in the sunlight, evidently deciding to take a nap.

The boat, S.S. Progress, docked after a three minute wait. Michael watched anxiously for a head full of forest-green hair, and found the boy after about half the passengers had disembarked. One thing caught him off guard, though- the ten-year old was _wheeling_ over to him, a Squirtle in his lap. Injuries severe enough to limit a human to a wheelchair weren't all that common around Kanto and the other Regions, and the boy was gaining more than a few stares as he caught sight of Michael and grinned. Noah wheeled over to him, and smiled.

"Hey! Sorry I'm a little late, but the crew had to help me figure out a faster way to get off. I can outrace a Meowth with this thing, but getting off boats isn't exactly my forte. I'd like you to meet my partner, Torlan."

The little blue turtle smiled in Michael's direction and offered a tiny hand to shake. The older trainer shook the water-type's hand, along with his trainer's hand as well, which was gloved and callused from years of evident wheeling around.

"So, would you like to meet my friends?" Michael asked. "They're back at the Center finishing up breakfast. Bet Red's already on his third helping of food by now..."

Noah laughed. "Sure, why not? A friend of yours is a friend of mine."

The two made their way back to the Center, and the red-haired trainer could feel the excitement emanating from the younger boy's form. He grinned once they made it inside the mega Center, and he made his way up to the corner table where the group was sitting.

"Hey, I'm back," Michael announced, grabbing an extra chair and sliding into it. "I'd like you to meet my trainee, Noah."

The mentioned boy smiled as he positioned himself in the slot that the other trainers had made by scooting their chairs a little closer together, and observed as each trainer introduced themselves to him. "As he said, I'm Noah. This is my partner, Torlan, and I'm pretty sure you're all wondering why I'm sitting in this right now."

Maddy blushed. "Well... yeah. It's kinda improper to ask, though..."

"Nah, I'm used to people asking. I was in a car wreck when I was six. Had a piece of shrapnel from the other vehicle hit my spine, which paralyzed me from the waist down. I'm lucky to be alive, though," Noah replied, shifting his hair aside to reveal a nasty scar. "This was also from the same wreck."

Aurian bit the inside of her lip. "Dang, kid. You're like the human personification of a Lucky Egg."

Noah shrugged. "That's what my mom always says. My journey so far has been rather eventful, mostly because of this," he motioned towards the chair, "but I'm not letting my disability stop me. I'm planning on challenging my first gym the second I get back to Kanto."

"Atta boy," Ash responded with a grin. "I think that Blue, Michael and I are going to start a joint training session with the three of you. How's that sound?"

The trainees beamed, and Torlan, Corona, and Ralts responded with happiness evident in their calls.

After the table was cleared of food scraps and plates, the team of six ventured outside back to Ash, Aurian, and Max's campsite.

"Well, it's not a League regulation field, but it'll do for our purposes," Ash pondered. "Blue, how are we starting? Master class or individual training, or rotations?"

The aforementioned girl frowned. "I think rotations would be good for now. We'll have a full out Master Class after lunch."

"I'll take Max," Ash offered. "We'll trade off every thirty minutes, how does that sound?"

Everyone nodded as they split off into their groups.

* * *

Ash watched as Max pulled his Ralts off his head and set the little psychic-type down on the ground.

"What now, Red?" Max asked.

The older trainer frowned. "Let's start with that Teleport maneuver that Blue suggested yesterday. I have a teammate that can give us a hand." An Ultra Ball was pulled from Ash's belt and thrown upwards, revealing a Gallade. The dual-type stood just a little under his chin-level, and gave a friendly bow towards his trainer upon release.

"This is Xiphos. He'll be giving us a hand with training today," Ash said with pride. "Hey buddy, we'll be training your psychic side today, just a heads up. No sparring, for now. Do you remember the method that Blue learned from our teacher?"

Xiphos nodded, and prepared a Teleport. As he reappeared from thin air, he sliced out at a hanging branch with a perfectly aimed Leaf Blade. Max and his Ralts clapped as the Gallade looked towards Ash, rather unsure of his next actions.

"Ralts, are you ready to try it?" Max asked. His starter nodded.

"Teleport, then try a Double Team!"

The little green-helmeted Pokémon vanished, and one transparent copy of itself appeared as it landed on top of a rock. "Ra..." the little psychic muttered, clearly dissapointed.

Ash approached the dissapointed little one and knelt down to look it in the eyes. "Hey, this maneuver takes months of practicing to get right. That copy that you made looked very good from what I could see. Do you want to try it again?"

Ralts nodded, and waited for Max to call his command. At the sound of the ten-year old's voice, he vanished once again. This time, three copies, looking a bit more corporeal, appeared and held steady as the real Pokémon returned to his trainer's side. After several more repetitions, Ralts had progressed from three to six to a decent ten copies all formed in a circle around the elder Gallade.

"That's better!" Ash exclaimed. "I think I'll let Xiphos take it from here. I'd like to ask you about your training philosophies before we rotate."

Max frowned as he watched Xiphos start tutoring his starter in his own language. "Okay. Why are you asking me this, though?"

"I ask the questions. First off... what do you see your Pokémon as?"

The olive haired trainer knew the answer immediately. "As friends, of course."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Anything more than that?"

"Not just friends... but family? They're like homes away from home, I guess."

"Progress," Ash responded.

Max's grimace deepened. "Why are you asking me these things?"

"There are people out there who will make you question your every belief about what you know," the older trainer responded. He then dropped his voice to a whisper. "Know what you think before you set out to travel. If I had known that when I started my journey, things would've been a lot less rocky, and perhaps things would've turned out a bit differently."

As Ash looked over his shoulder, he saw a young woman with extremely curly hair and violet eyes pass by, wearing a coral jacket, a primrose-hued backpack, and a pink and white baseball cap patterned with a single tulip on the front.

_Could she be any more obvious? _Ash pondered. He caught Aurian's eyes, and passed along a quick hand gesture- a thumb pressed to his right temple.

**_Team Rocket Member._**

Both Michael and Aurian caught the signal, and gave slight nods before turning back to their trainees.

* * *

Aurian did her best to hide her surprise when she glanced back at Ash's signal. Maddy was engrossed with making sure Corona was all right from a tough fall she had taken, thank goodness, so the older girl's quick turn over her shoulder was unnoticed.

"Is Corona ready to try again?" She asked.

"Blue? What else can I do with SmokeScreen? We've already covered defense, offense, covering during transitions..." Maddy trailed off.

Aurian frowned. "Not too sure. I guess we've covered all we need to until we rotate. Do you want to talk about anything?"

Maddy bit her lip. There was one question burning inside of her head, but her mentor would probably never forgive her if she asked it.

"I can't guarantee an answer to any inquiry, you know," the older trainer responded. "But you should ask what's on your mind. Red and I's teacher always said that 'if you don't like the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question'."

"All right," the petite blond trainer asked, sitting down on the grass. "Two questions. First one- how did you and Red meet?"

Aurian grinned. "He was getting his butt kicked by a large group of thugs outside of Sunyshore City a few years back. I jumped in and gave him a hand. We kinda stuck together after that, since I could see that he had suffered a pretty big loss. We've been travelling together ever since."

"Second question," Maddy stated. "Are you and Red... together?"

"You mean 'like like' or dating?" Aurian responded. "Nah. It'd be like dating my older brother. Ever since the Sunyshore incident, we've been really close friends. And if you haven't noticed, he's really dense about anything romance related. You didn't hear that from me, of course, but I notice things that other people don't. It's kinda a specialty of mine."

Maddy pondered this new piece of information as the two resumed their training session.

* * *

Noah was really excited to start his training session. Michael was one of the kindest people he had met so far on his journey, and people kind to him were few and far between. He may not have liked being confined to a chair, but at least his parents let him trick it out for his tenth birthday. He was extremely proud of the many Pokémon-themed decals on the back, which he adapted from the murals found on the side of the Tin Tower in Johto. Michael had noticed almost immediately and complemented his artwork.

"All right, let's see what Torlan can do. I'll be using my Poliwrath, Hapkido, to give you a hand. What moves does he know?"

"Water Gun, Tackle, Withdraw, and Tail Whip," the green eyed boy replied.

Michael smiled. "How's the accuracy rate with Water Gun?"

Noah looked a little sheepish. "Well... not that great, actually. He's still learning."

"I'll give you a hand with that. We'll use those rocks- give us a hand, Hapkido- to practice," the redhead announced. He helped his dual type to turn the rocks so that they would make accurate targets, and then rejoined his trainee.

"Ready, Torlan?" the boy asked. His starter responded with a friendly wave. "Water Gun!"

The turtle aimed and a rather wide stream of water came from his mouth, completely missing the target and nearly soaking Maddy and Blue and their Pokémon.

"Hey!" Maddy exclaimed. Blue just shook her head and smiled.

"Anyways," Michael picked back up, "I think Torlan should try narrowing the stream of water that he produces, so that way it acts a bit more like a laser than a wide beam of light. There's more room for precision, there. Plus, more built up pressure equals..."

"More power! I get it! Thanks, Michael!" Noah responded. "Let's try it again!" This time, the Squirtle's attack hit the right side of the target.

"Looking good! Keep it up!"

After a lot more training and frustration on Torlan's part, the two finally got their accuracy rate to a point where nine out of every ten targets were hit.

"Let's call it a break- plus, I think you should get to know both Max and Maddy a little more. They're great kids, and I think you three would make an unstoppable team."

Noah nodded, and wheeled over to meet with his potential new friends. All three of the trainees ended up sitting side by side in the grass, staring up at the sky while trying to find Pokémon in the clouds... with some friendly debate, of course.

Aurian got Michael's hint, grabbed Ash, and the three of them stood off to the side in a conference.

"You're normally not this social, Mikey," Ash noted, much to the chagrin of the redheaded trainer in their midst. "What's up?"

Michael sighed. "You know how I hate that nickname. Anyways, I got a wire from Dragon Master last night. He sent me these pictures." He fiddled with his P*DA, and a collage of four pictures appeared on the screen. The pair of patonai shuddered as they both noticed the glitched 'L' from the night before.

"So... there's more than one of it?" Aurian asked.

Michael shrugged. "Not really. It turns out that this thing has five forms. The first, the glitch-L, is the one that you saw last night. The others are the fossil forms of Kabutops and Aerodactyl, a deformed Gastly, and something that recon couldn't get any footage of called the B6-8 variants."

"Why is this important?" Ash asked. "It's not like Dragon Master to give us info without a location or anything like that."

"That's the problem," Michael retorted, paling. "There is no location. Rocket is bringing the party to us."

* * *

_**(A/N): Review response time!**_

_**SerenaTheHedgehog: Thank you very much!**_

_**Pokedexter: Glad you're enjoying this!**_

_**partner555: I'm rather inexperienced with the glitches, so I'm kinda wrapping them into the game/anime verse as I go. Thanks for reading all of this from the beginning.**_

_**Kamen Rider Lynx: Thanks for the complements! I noticed a considerable lack of G-Men here, and thought that I'd expand the idea. **_

_**Please review! Tell me what I'm doing right, what I should change, what you would like to see! And, if this hits a certain amount of reviews, I may have a little surprise for all of you! **_

_**PL, signing off!**_


	8. Hunted

Ash paled. "What."

"Arceus," Aurian muttered. "This isn't good."

Michael sighed. "And the award for 'Understatement of the Century' goes to..."

"Oh, shut up," the female trainer replied. "There's no time for sarcasm."

Ash found himself grinning, despite the dire situation they had just been dropped into. "You, arguably the most sarcastic member of the GM, telling us to cut the humor? Ironic."

One fiery glare from the blue-eyed girl silenced him.

"She's right," Michael replied, crossing his arms. "We need a plan."

"We can't form one just yet," Ash answered. "We need more information from Dragon Master before we act. I think that Blue and I should tail the Rocket operatives, and find out what their goal is. Once we can, we'll take them down and call for backup in getting them back to headquarters."

Michael frowned. "That's actually a pretty decent plan... but where do I fit in?"

"As your commander," Aurian pondered, "I want you to stay low. Since you gave us a hand back in Johto and are going by your real name, you could be a potential target if spotted. Be careful. Break."

The three went back towards their protégés, who were still arguing over cloud shapes.

"No, that definitely looks like a Rapidash, if you ask me," Noah stated, crossing his arms under his head.

"I see a Zebstrika," Max countered. He heard the older trainers' footsteps and grinned.

"Boys," Maddy muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Hey guys, you're just in time! We were gonna go over there and ask you- does that cloud look like a Rapidash or a Zebstrika?" Max announced, removing his glasses and polishing them on his shirt.

Ash frowned, his feigned crimson eyes deepening. "Rapidash."

"Zebstrika," Aurian offered.

Michael grinned. "Suicune from the side."

The other five trainers sat in shock at the accuracy of Michael's statement.

"Problem solved," the redhead countered. The group of six started laughing.

"What now?" Noah asked.

"Well," Ash stated, "it's around lunchtime. You guys hungry?"

A growl from the trainees' stomachs reverberated throughout the clearing, drawing more laughter from the group.

"Let's go," Aurian stated. "Don't want the good tables to be taken!"

As they made their way back towards the Center, Max had an idea. "Hey Red, what's your family like?"

Ash smiled, knowing exactly what the rookie was thinking. "Dad went off on his own journey when I was about three and a half. My mom works odd jobs around town and helps my neighbors with a catering business when times get rough. No siblings- just me."

"Blue?" Maddy asked. "What about you?"

"My dad used to be a semi-pro trainer. He won a couple of League competitions back in the day, and was my inspiration to be a trainer. Mom is a Breeder- tons of Pokémon ran around my place. My little brother is waiting for his tenth birthday. He wants to go challenge the Sinnoh Battle Frontier. I've got a close cousin who's a Ranger in Almia- Kate. You'd like her, I think."

"Michael?" Noah offered. Torlan yawned from the boy's lap.

"Live with my Mom, a researcher, and my little sister, Jovi, in Orre. Jovi's about to turn ten. She's got her sights set on winning a Grand Festival or two after getting out of Orre. Dad... Dad's kind of a sore subject around my place. He passed of a heart attack when I was six. Jovi was just a baby, but I still miss him sometimes."

"What about you guys?" Ash asked in an attempt to lighten the now gloomy mood. "Any siblings?"

Max grinned. "Well, of course you guys know my older sis, May. My dad's the Petalburg City Gym leader, and my mom keeps him on track. We've got a few cousins over in Fiore and Kanto, but they don't visit us much."

"I've got one older brother and three younger sisters," Maddy responded. "Life is crazy back at my place. My brother, Patrick, is off in Unova preparing to challenge his sixth gym- Skyla, I believe, is his next challenge. My younger sisters- Kylie, Katherine, and Katrina- are identical triplets. They all want to do different things- train, coordinate, go to Ranger school. They're only five, so I doubt that their goals will stay the same."

"Just me," said Noah. "My parents only wanted one child. Dad works for Silph Co, and my Mom runs a resturant in Cerulean City. They were away from home a lot, so I played- well, as much as I could with my chair- with the local Pokémon."

The Center appeared just as Noah finished his sentence. The group of six grabbed a table, rearranged their chairs so Noah could be comfortable, and placed an order for vegetarian burgers- no one really wanted to eat Tauros meat- with a friendly Chansey.

As everyone chowed down, Ash felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around to find Misty waiting there, her arms awkwardly crossed.

"Hello, Miss Waterflower," he responded. "Would you like to join us?"

She nodded. "Please, call me Misty. I'd love to."

With much shuffling of chairs, the orange-haired newcomer joined the trainees and trainers, who exchanged happy greetings.

"Has your trainee arrived yet?" Michael asked.

Misty shook her head. "No. She said she may have to cancel, since her mom just got really sick. Poor girl- I was really looking forward to meeting her. She seemed so sweet through all the video calls we exchanged. Bummer."

"You can help train us! We need all the help we can get," Maddy responded while pointing to the two younger boys of the group, who had started a belching contest. Aurian laughed and patted her trainee on the back.

"Boys will be boys," Misty muttered. Ash laughed, remembering the times he and Gary did that during his childhood days. As he laughed, Domino and her grunts appeared in the Center, grabbed four to-go orders of food, and left.

The Cerulean City Gym Leader noticed how both her crimson-eyed and new blue-eyed acquaintance kept a careful eye on the group of four- particularly the girl in the center with a tulip printed on her cap. The blonde looked so familiar... why couldn't she place her?

"So," Ash asked, crossing his arms behind his head as Pikachu continued to nibble on his burger, "What now? Opening ceremonies are tomorrow- what happens after that?"

"There's a giant screen in the main stadium," Misty answered. "They reveal the brackets for the first half of the competition- up to the top 40, I believe. They'll establish the actual rules- double, single, triple, or rotation- right before the brawl begins. There are gym leaders, Frontier Brains, even a few Colisseum Leaders thrown in the mix. Let's hope that none of us meet up too soon."

The competing trainers nodded as they cleaned up their area and left.

* * *

As the newly enlarged group started wandering around the island, Aurian noticed two somewhat familiar faces conversing by the blue roofed Pokémart.

"It's Paul and Gary," Aurian whispered to Ash. "What should we do?"

"I say we go introduce ourselves, apologize for what went down yesterday," the black-haired trainer replied. By the time he had completed his sentence, Misty was yelling "Gary! Hey, Oak!"

The sandy-headed trainer turned around and grinned. "Yo, Mist! What's up? You competing?"

"Yeah. I got here yesterday, and ran into May Maple's little brother, who was hanging out with this group, so I decided to join in. How's Umbreon? It's been a while since I last saw him. And what are you doing battling? Shouldn't you be researching?"

"He's doing well, thanks. As for the competition- Gramps said that I was working too hard, and needed some time off. He registered me before I even had a chance to protest," Gary laughed. "Sounds just like him, doesn't it?" Gary turned towards Ash and Aurian and frowned.

"Aren't you two the people who beat us into the ground yesterday?"

At Gary's words, Paul turned around sharply, and glared at the two patonai.

"Yes. Yes we are," Ash replied. "We really shouldn't have gotten involved in your feud, and I'd like to apologize for my friend here," he continued, pointing at Aurian, who awkwardly waved.

"That's no excuse, though," Paul snapped. "Meddling will get you nowhere."

"Look, all I wanted to do by coming over here was to apologize and start over," Aurian rebutted while extending a hand. "I'm Blue. Blue Katrian. And you are?"

Paul looked away and rejected the handshake. "More worthy than you. Paul Shinji doesn't accept losses- especially those caused by girls."

"_Excuse me?_" Aurian countered, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms, which was never a good sign. "You're saying that girls and ladies can't be good trainers?"

"Girls are soft- weak, even," the plum-headed trainer replied nonchalantly. "They're better off being Coordinators or Breeders, where they belong."

Aurian smirked. "Then how did I kick your sorry hindquarters into the ground yesterday?"

"You had help."

"I would challenge you to another battle right now, but that would be foolish of me. There's no point in scuffling a day before the opening ceremonies."

"Wimp."

Ash knew that if he didn't stop the two of them now, Aurian would most likely lose control of her temper and blow their cover, and most likely start a fist fight. Even if things did come to that, he knew that his patonai could easily take Paul, but that certainly didn't need to happen. "Whoa there, Blue. That's enough. Anyways, I'm Red Aronshu. Nice to meet you, Gary..." he trailed off, giving his deadliest glare towards the other trainer. "Paul."

"Red."

"Michael!" the red-headed trainer interjected, causing the trainees to laugh. "Come on guys, lighten up! We can settle all of this," he motioned wildly around to Paul, Aurian, and Ash, "on the battlefield."

Blue nodded as she turned around and walked away from her new rival. "You're right, Michael." She turned back over her shoulder towards the purple-haired trainer. "You'd better watch your back. One of these days, your Grumpig-headed viewpoints will come back to haunt you."

The group of seven walked away, with Ash keeping a hand on Aurian's shoulder.

Once they were a safe distance away, Aurian let out a short scream.

"Gah! He's so insufferable, stupid, thick-headed..."

Noah smiled. "Hey. Once the brackets are released, I'll run some calculations and see if there's any chance of you two meeting up before the top 40. If there is," his smile deepened, "ruin him."

"Heck yes," Max responded, punching the air. "He's so wrong! I've met plenty of really good girl trainers!"

Maddy scratched her head and looked towards Aurian. "I was about to bring up the point of Champion Cynthia, but you seemed to be handling it quite well."

"I've met Paul before," Ash said, crossing his arms. "Saw him run away with his tail between his legs after he was completely dominated by Cynthia herself."

"Maybe that's why he has a grudge against girls," Michael offered. "Got beaten by one, can't forget it?"

Misty bit her lip. "Definitely a possibility, but his problem is probably deeper than that."

"I'm not one for psychological analysis when I don't have enough information," Aurian interjected, "so I'll hold off and see what I can find at a later time. And Noah, I will drive him into the ground, no worries."

* * *

Gary watched the group of seven walk away as Paul started to walk off. An idea came to him, and he poked Paul in the shoulder.

"You think that Blue girl is attractive, don't you?"

Paul screeched to a halt. "What?"

"Come on," Gary offered. "Those eyes, right? Beautiful one second and filled with deadly malice the next. And that hair- Arceus, sure is shiny, isn't it?"

"I hold no romantic attraction towards Blue Katrian."

"Then why did you remember her last name?"

Paul flushed red and stayed silent.

"_I KNEW IT!_" Gary exclaimed, starting to do a little happy dance in the middle of the street. "Paul's in love with Blu-e, Paul's in love with Blu-e!"

The 'infatuated' purple-haired trainer slammed a hand over Gary's mouth, effectively silencing him. "Shut up."

Gary pulled Paul's hand off of his face and grinned. "If it helps, I think she's attractive, too, but Misty is most definitely more my type. I've always had a thing for red/orange hair."

"Why haven't you asked her out?"

"She's still hung up on Ash Ketchum. I mean, come on, it's been practically three years since the dude dropped off the face of the Earth. She can find a new guy to fancy."

Paul maintained his stony silence and started walking towards the Center. "I need to train more- after I heal up."

Gary, completely aware of Paul's reluctance to address the subject, smiled. "Ahaha, yep. Same here."

The two trainers headed to the Center as dusk started to approach, unaware that a certain Pewter City ex-gym leader had watched what went down and overheard their entire conversation...

* * *

As the sun went down, Misty joined Red, Blue, Michael, Maddy, Max, and Noah for marshmallow roasting under the open sky. She did have to admit that Red knew how to make a mean s'more, as he had insisted on making each of them one of his signaturely toasted variants. And Arceus, it was good. She licked the gooey remains of her graham cracker, chocolate, and puffy sugar sandwich off the tips of her fingers, and watched quietly as the trainees burned their marshmallows and started flinging them into the fire- created by Ash's Typhlosion- just for fun.

"You've been quiet lately," Blue pondered, dropping down to sit next to the orange-haired trainer. "What's on your mind? Something's worrying you, eating away at your consciousness."

"How'd you know?" Misty responded.

Blue shrugged. "I notice these kinds of things."

Misty sighed. "My friend that I accidentally mistook Red for would've loved this. He'd be burning marshmallows right along with Max, Maddy, and Noah. I really miss him sometimes- he was kind of like an annoying little brother that you still loved at the end of the day. He just... vanished, without a trace. I've talked with his mom, and she has a vague idea of where he is, but she was sworn to secrecy, apparently. Does he know that it's killing the rest of us to not know where he is?"

"He's got a good reason for doing so," Blue thought out loud. "Have you ever thought of it that way?"

"I've tried, but it hasn't worked. Ash would never turn his back on his friends- this just isn't like him."

Blue grinned. "This Ash- he might be a little closer than you think he is," she said with a wink. As the curly-haired trainer disappeared off to chuck a marshmallow at Michael's spiky hair, she wondered what, exactly, the girl meant.

"Hey!" Michael exclaimed, interrupting Misty's thoughts. "Who stuck this on my head!"

Blue laughed as she started running, leading Michael to start chasing her. "Not my fault that I have good aim!" the girl exclaimed, spinning to change course. Red was in hysterics the entire time, laughing so hard that he forgot about the half-roasted marshmallow on his stick. It dropped off the makeshift roaster and was engulfed in a small whoosh of blue flame.

The antics continued as the sky turned to a deep indigo, with stars and galaxies peeking out from behind the clouds. A single sliver of the moon remained, and provided just enough light to see by as Ash, Aurian, Max, and Michael walked Misty, Maddy, and Noah back to the Center.

"We really need to do this again," Misty announced with a grin. "Tomorrow night sound good?"

"Yeah!" Max responded. "As long as there's s'mores, I'm in!"

The rest of the group chuckled at Max's love of food as they said their goodbyes until the next morning. Michael had decided to stay with Ash and Aurian in the event of an emergency, and set up his sleeping bag as everyone else prepared for bed.

Ash was still awake long after Pikachu and Max started snoring, and stared up at the sky. He knew that sleep just wouldn't come tonight- too many things on his mind.

He quietly exited his sleeping bag- but not quietly enough. Pikachu blinked once, twice, and gazed up at his trainer as Red pulled on his G-Men issued navy blue and black hoodie.

"Piiiiiiiikaa?" he asked.

"Going for a walk. Want to join me?"

The little electric rodent nodded as he jumped up onto Ash's shoulder. He made his way towards a lake that wasn't all that far from the campsite. As he plopped down on a rock, he heard footsteps approaching behind him. A blaze of blue appeared between his hands, but he let the aura evaporate when he saw that it was his patonai. She sat down next to him and shot him one of her signature looks- one eyebrow raised, her blue eyes inquisitive.

"I keep thinking about the Sinnoh League Incident," Ash blurted, resting his forehead in his left hand. "Arceus- if I had been stronger, I would've been able to help so much more..."

"Your 'Mon were passed out from the effort of defeating not one, but _two _Legendaries. While I did admire the effort they put out to face that Darkrai after your official battle, you had no chance at winning. Your 'friends' had no right to break you down because of that. You told me yourself that you lived under unrealistic expectations for the first five years of your journey. Didn't you?"

The black-haired trainer nodded. "Yes."

Aurian sighed. "Why are you still concerned, then? You've got your priorities in order now."

"It's just... I don't get why Misty is so on edge whenever my name is brought up."

The inquisitive look in Aurian's blue eyes turned to annoyance. "She cares for you, you idiot! Didn't you hear her say that she misses you?"

"Oh."

Silence overtook the clearing, and the only sound heard by either trainer was the sound of small waves slapping the shores.

"I never realized..."

"That's because you're denser about these sorts of things than a Golem, Shadow," Aurian replied, using Ash's shorthand nickname.

Ash grinned. "Hey Braveheart, you still like me anyways, don't you?"

Aurian paused, tapping her fingers against the rock. "I'm your patonai. I'm forced to."

"Hey!"

Pikachu started giggling at the two's banter, but then went quiet. His ears perked up and started twitching as he tugged on Ash's sleeve.

"Pikapi. Ka-ka-pichu."

Aurian stayed silent as she extended her hand out to the side. A sapphire mist started to emanate from her palm, and started forming itself into a pommel, a grip, then an elegant guard, a blade, and finally resolved and solidified itself into a short sword: an eleven-A model, according to both her father and her G-Men instructor. Her other hand went straight to her belt, and hovered over Yuan's Pokéball.

Ash finished creating his Aura blade, which was a little longer and darker in color than his patonai's, and then held still, letting his tracking skills assist Pikachu in finding out the locations of possible adversaries. Cerulean flared behind his eyelids, and laid itself out, night vision style, into his surroundings. Four humans started shifting forward, Pokéballs in one hand and weapons in the other.

_How many do you see? _he asked Aurian through an ancient Guardian process called Kōkani, which allowed nonverbal communication during combat. Supposedly, it was created by Sir Aaron of Rota, and then passed down through his many students to their fellow Guardians until the method replaced the crystals scattered around Rota itself.

_Five. There's one behind a tree that you missed. _Ash swore he could hear Aurian smirking._ Each one has four Pokéballs. Do they know that we're here? _

_Not sure. Do they have any weapons? _Ash replied, holding his blade in a defensive stance.

The voice in his head paused. _Pretty sure that the one that looks like Domino has her standard Black Tulips. The other four have a pair of nunchuks, a sword, two daggers, and a bow and quiver of arrows. If they are looking for us, we need to go incognito. Hoods up?_

Ash grinned. _Hoods up. _

Both trainers flipped their hoods on top of their heads and secured them so that all their opponents would be able to see were their eyes- one pair of crimson, one pair of blue.

Ash knew that he had been in this kind of situation many times before- back to back with Aurian, one of the few humans that he trusted with his life, and had only his personal Aura skills and his training repertoire at his disposal. They had worked their way out of worse situations than this, but even being surrounded by five people could have disastrous results.

_May the Aura be with you and serve you well,_ he thought in Aurian's direction.

He tensed as the rustling from the bushes intensified, and five forms burst out from the greenbelt...

* * *

_**(A/N): Hello, and thank you for reading Chapter Eight! I'll be responding to reviews from here on out!**_

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**_PL, signing off!_**


	9. Altercation

_**(A/N): I'm really sorry about my extended absence... academics took over my life for a few weeks, but we're all clear now! Hope you guys enjoy Chapter 9! **_

* * *

Ash dodged the first strike- a textbook style roundhouse kick from the man with the nunchuks. He knew through Kōkani that Aurian had dealt the first blow for their side with a well-timed blow to the chest of one of the dagger-carrying men. He immediately hit the ground to dodge an arrow, which lodged itself in a tree twenty yards behind him.

The distinctive clicks of Pokéballs opening revealed each of the other side's Pokémon- twenty total, mostly Dark, Poison, and Psychic types. The two patonai ended up back to back, with Pikachu, his cheeks sparking with charging electricity, at their feet.

_This is rather cliché, _Ash noted with an amused grin. _Any ideas?_

Aurian frowned. _We don't want to overuse our Pokémon this close to the tournament, and if we called for backups from our Professors tomorrow, it would look rather suspicious. I vote we try to fight our way out of this with as few Pokémon as possible while aiming for the Trainers. If they're taken down, then they can't have any help from their teams. I'll send out some aerial help with Togekiss. Ready?_

_Count me in. Takes you right back to Orre and Cipher, doesn't it? _Ash pondered, repositioning his sword in his sweaty hands. _Michael would love to be here right now._

_Heck yes,_ Aurian answered._ We're a little more prepared this time, though, even though we're at a numerical disadvantage. Ready, Captain Ketchum?_

_Aye aye, Captain Borealis._

As Aurian's Togekiss made her way to the air, the two patonai split up to take down the trainers. Ash quickly called out both Pidgeot and Typhlosion after sending Pikachu off to take down a Shuppet, and the new fighters started their attacks almost as soon as they hit the ground. The two Pokémon immediately took action to see that they kept two of the trainers busy with rapid fire and wind attacks so that the Rocket Grunts wouldn't get a chance to take the patonai on five on two.

He could hear the too-familiar sounds of Flamethrowers and Aerial Aces hitting their marks every single time. For a second, he was transported back to he, Aurian, and Michael's last battle against Cipher- lots of Peons, with the head of the organization shouting orders to everyone. Ash was distracted from his thoughts by a swinging stick above his head. He dropped to the ground and swept his opponent's feet out from under him. One pressure point pinch later, and the man was out for the count. Ash collected the nunchucks and pocketed them, and moved on to his next opponent, the man with the sword.

_You doing all right? _he asked, dodging a left handed uppercut from his new opponent.

_Never better!_ Aurian replied. He felt her deal a stinging whack to the chest with the flat side of her blade, and heard her opponent thump into the dirt. She used the standard G-Men way of knocking someone out, a simple punch to under the chin. That took them straight back to the day after their initiation- one heck of a first day of training.

The other two trainers, who were formerly occupied by Typhlosion and Togekiss, now saw their chance. One lunged at Ash, who just managed to dodge a strike from one of the dagger carrying grunts. The knife cut through his long-sleeved pijama shirt and left a shalow cut in his arm. He gritted his teeth, and disarmed the man with one strike of his own sword. One kick to the stomach and a hard punch to the temple sent the man down, hard, to the ground.

The only remaining Rocket member for Ash to fight was Domino, who delicately plucked a flower from a holster in her belt.

"My my, I certainly wasn't expecting our conflict to come to this so quickly. Shall we begin, my opponent?"

Ash started hand-to-hand combat with the Black Tulip herself, who was quite proficient and -sadly- knew exactly what she was doing. He knew that if even one of her black flowers found any place on his body, he'd be out for the count. The blond in front of him gracefully dodged a punch and tried to grab his other arm in preparation to flip him over. A quick kick from the dark-haired trainer sent her flying into the air, where she executed a quick cartwheel to reorient herself.

"You seem familiar," she pondered, flipping her hair out of her face. "Have we met somewhere before?"

Ash grinned. "I get that a lot. Your move, Miss."

Domino loaded one of her poisoned flowers, and threw it. The bud tumbled end over end and was deflected by Ash' sword, and rebounded to find its mark- one of the Dark types that Togekiss was beginning to attack with a Sky Attack. The Houndoom dropped to the ground, dreaming peacefully, and Togekiss attacked a Banette instead, the attack knocking it unconscious.

The Black Tulip cursed under her breath. "Dang. I had that one specially made."

Ash managed to catch her off guard during her musings with a hard grab to a very specific point on her shoulder. The curly-haired trainer dropped to the ground, out for the count. He looked over his shoulder to find Aurian finishing off the last of the grunts, who she knocked out with the same method- one grab to the shoulder, and the man was sleeping like a baby. Or a Snorlax, at least.

The remaining Pokémon returned to their Pokéballs, and left the two patonai, Pikachu, Typhlosion, Pidgeot, and Togekiss standing alone. Aurian let her sword dissapate into thin air, and watched as the blue slowly evaporated and the weapon slowly vanished from existence. Ash did the same, but the process for his was much quicker- he meant business.

"What should we do with them?" Aurian asked.

Ash reached inside his pocket and pulled out a Pokégear. "I'm calling Dragon Master. Go find some Pokémon that know String Shot and tie these grunts up.

"No problem," the female trainer replied. "Volcarona, come on out and use String Shot on these Rockets. Tie their wrists and ankles together, please."

The fire moth appeared, let loose a soft "ca!" and completed Aurian's order.

Ash quickly hit several buttons in a complicated sequence, and Lance's face appeared on the small screen.

"Red, it's two thirty in the morning here, why are you calling?"

"Does being ambushed by Rocket grunts count as an emergency?" Aurian deadpanned, moving the camera to show the mass of grunts lying unconscious.

"What should we do?" Ash asked. "We can't just leave them here."

Lance frowned as he thought for a little bit. "They're also registered to compete in the tournament, so we can't extract them without some people asking a few unwanted questions. I say that you should transport them back to the Center and leave them after untying their wrists."

"And ankles," Aurian answered.

Lance sighed. "Ah, hand to hand protocol. Are all their Pokémon back within their Pokéballs?"

"Yep, we already made sure of that. We'll start moving them as soon as possible," Ash responded with a grim smile.

"That," Lance yawned, "concludes our talk. _Good night._"

The screen went black, and Ash returned the Pokégear to his back pocket with a smile. Lance hated being woken up in the middle of the night. They'd probably be on the receiving end of a rather crabby call tomorrow.

"Let's get started, then," Aurian sighed, dragging Domino on top of her Togekiss. A little bit later, the grunts were as secure as possible on top of the patonai's strongest Pokémon, and the group started off towards the Center.

After much trekking through woods and many close calls with a few late-night parties, the patonai finally made it to the Center. Ash did most of the work with arranging the grunts to make it look like they passed out from too much alcohol consumption- anyone over twenty-one could buy it at any of the League sponsored tournaments, though the practice was looked down upon- and finished his work as his watch beeped an alarm.

"One in the morning," Aurian groaned. "We need to head back."

"Wait," Ash countered. "We should check their pockets."

The patonai fished around in various shirt and pants pockets, and unearthed a black Pokédex, a small Pokégear, and a folded note.

"We can transfer all of the info to my Dex," Ash offered. Aurian tossed him a wire, which he plugged into a port in the side of the black Dex and his own red one. As he finished, he inserted the wire into the Pokégear. A few short minutes later, the process was complete.

"Now we really need to head back."

Ash nodded wordlessly as he climbed on top of his Typhlosion, and wondered what kind of data was encrypted into the Pokédex that he found. Aurian clambered up onto Togekiss' back, and the two fled back to their campsite.

* * *

Brock lay awake in the room he shared with Forrest, who was currently sleeptalking his way through an upcoming battle. The ex-gym leader smiled at his brother's enthusiasm, and grabbed his shoes and a key as he walked out the door.

_A walk should tire me out enough_, he thought, trudging along the hallways and down the staircase to the main lobby.

As he walked through the automatic doors, he did a double take. Why were five people lying unconscious against the side of the building? His Pokémon doctor instincts took over as he examined each person. Most of them looked as if they had just been involved in a brutal fight, and some- except one man with a slightly bloody dagger- had empty holsters on their belts. All of their Pokéballs were marked as occupied.

"Where are the rest of their weapons?" he muttered, looking around. He caught sight of large tracks leading away from the five, and dainty little marks that disappeared after they increased in number, proving that a flying-type had to have been present.

_Should I follow the tracks, or could it lead me to something worse?_

Brock eventually made up his mind, and followed the large prints, which were most definitely of a four-legged Pokémon. After much circling and dodging of tree branches, he came upon a campsite- where the boy and girl that Paul referred to as Red and Blue were asleep inside of sleeping bags, and where Max was snoring- ah, memories!- as he rolled over. One other guy- Michael, wasn't it?- lay like a log, completely unmoving.

How could these kids presumably get involved in a fight with the five people that were still unconscious back at the center? Blue and Red were at least six years younger than the youngest person back there, and looked like they couldn't really hold their own in a fist fight. But a Pokémon battle... he had seen first hand as part of the massive mob that gathered when Red and Blue completely smashed Gary and Paul into the ground. From the looks of it, their entire teams were conditioned to the extreme, based on Pikachu and Mienshao's example.

_I think I'll try to figure this out when I have more sleep... _Brock pondered, trudging back to the Center while suppressing a yawn. _There's something here that I'm just not seeing._

As he climbed back into bed, he wondered if Red and Ash were connected somehow.

* * *

Max dreamed that he was once again journeying with Ash, May, and Brock, but Ash looked different. He had longer hair from the back, and never really showed his face while he was walking.

"Wait, R-Ash! I'm coming!" he yelled while mentally smacking his forehead. That was the second time- once in reality, once in dream land- that he had confused Ash and Red. The two weren't even all that alike- the Ash he remembered was a lot less serious about everything than Red was, and seemed to enjoy everything more.

"Are you ready to move on?" Ash asked. "It'll be dangerous ahead."

Max nodded. "Yep! I've got my team with me, and everything will be a-okay!"

"Things won't be easy. The road ahead will be filled with difficult decisions."

"That's why I have my friends with me!"

He could practically hear Ash frowning as the older trainer put a hand to his forehead. "Some decisions you have to make alone."

Max didn't really have an answer to that one.

"You've got some thinking to do, Max. You'll find me when you're ready."

The younger trainer started to protest, but his dream suddenly shifted, showing the Jirachi he had befriended all those years ago. His third eye was closed, and the little psychic-type warmed to be dreaming peacefully.

_Hello, friend. I don't have much time... turns out that things are about to start looking really, really bad!_

"Why?" Max asked. "Does this have something to do with Blue and Red and Michael?"

The Wish Pokémon sighed. _I can't say yet. Keep your eyes peeled. Best wishes!_

"Wait wait wait! Don't go yet, Jirachi, I still have more questions!" Max yelled, making a lunge for the chrysalis that the dual type was encased in. The crystalline structure vanished as he woke up with a gasp. Sunlight streamed into his eyes, and he squinted in displeasure, groping around for his glasses. After finding them and putting them on, he noticed that Red was in a completely different position than he was last night, and that he slept cradling his right arm. Max creeped over to the older trainer, and found a sizable scratch in Red's forearm that stretched from his wrist to his elbow. His Pokédex was about a foot away from his head, laying front-side down.

Aurian stretched, yawned, and nearly had a heart attack when she saw Max about to open Ash's Pokédex. She knelt down next to the younger boy and tapped him on the shoulder, which made him jump about a foot into the air.

"Dang, Blue, you scared the heck out of me!"

The female trainer took the red Pokémon tracker device and tucked it into Red's bag. "He really doesn't like it when other people mess with his stuff. What were you looking for?"

Max sighed, and decided that he'd check the Pokédex later, when no one was looking. "Nothing. Should I wake Michael?"

"That would be a good idea. He'll sleep until noon if we let him, and that won't be great- we've got opening ceremonies tonight!"

"Oh yeah," Max answered, "I completely forgot! I'll go wake Michael! Be right back!"

Aurian grinned as he ran off to shake her spiky-haired friend awake. She poked Ash's shoulder and started tapping her foot in impatience when he didn't stir. She eventually settled for shaking his shoulders wildly while exclaiming "Red, if you don't wake up now, the Center will run out of food!"

"WHAT ABOUT NO FOOD?" Ash yelled, jolting upright. He gingerly touched his neck. "Ow," he muttered. "Cricked my neck."

His patonai smirked. "That's what you get for not waking up on time."

"Never again," Ash moaned, setting a still sleepy Pikachu on his shoulder. "Everyone awake?"

"Am now," groaned Michael, sitting up while rubbing his head. "Why do you have to yell so loud?"

Max smiled. "That's Red for ya."

"We should go check on the girls and Noah," Ash announced, standing up. Max noticed that he winced whenever his weight transferred from his left arm to his right, but didn't say anything.

The pack of four set off towards the Center without another word. They passed many late night partiers who were passed out in various positions- draped over logs on the ground, asleep in branches, passed out around campfires.

The sliding doors opened, and the four found Misty, Maddy, and Noah waiting on them.

"What took you so long?" Misty asked, putting her hands on her hips. "It's almost ten thirty!"

"_Ten thirty_?" Ash yelped. "Dang, didn't know we slept that late! Guess Dexter's alarm didn't go off..." _Or I forgot to set it after the brawl last night..._

Aurian shook her head. "Sorry, guys. We'll grab some food and then venture out to the stadium, and see what the plan is for the Opening Ceremonies."

"They have breakfast tacos over there," Noah motioned towards the buffet. "They're really good- Noah approved!"

The oversleepers grabbed the tortilla encased meal to go, and followed Misty out of the sliding door. What the group saw outside astounded them.

"Oh. My. Arceus," Misty exclaimed, putting a hand over her mouth.

Max's smile turned to an expression of shock. "Holy crud."

Aurian and Ash did their best to feign surprise. "Well, that was unexpected."

"Are they alright?" Noah asked, wheeling over to check the five trainer's vitals.

_Dang, wasn't expecting our job to go over so well, _Ash commented through Kōkani.

Aurian bit her lip. _Went a little too well, in my opinion. Should we go get Brock, to make it look like we went for help?_

The darker haired trainer nodded. _Yup. Think he's coming out now._

Brock emerged from the Center, greeted the group of seven, and then noticed what they were staring at. He immediately started helping Noah check the trainers and make sure that they were still alive.

"I'm seeing consistent bruising among two of these guys under the neck. The other two guys and the girl have brusing in the shape of a hand around the right shoulder, where a pressure point is located. All of them are alive, but some seem to be better off than others. I'm seeing black eyes forming on two, and a few cuts on arms, torsos, and legs. Must've been some fight they were involved in."

Noah frowned. "What's that sticking out of the girl's pocket?"

Ash removed the black Pokédex that he had leached the data from the night before, and booted it up, showing the rest of the group the poison-purple 'R' that appeared on the screen.

"Rocket," Max breathed, his body tensing. "How the heck did they get here?"

Aurian quickly looked over her shoulder, and sighed in relief when she noticed that no one seemed to be paying them any attention. "We can't have the Jennies deal with this- Rockets are rather notorious for breaking out of normal prisons. I've got some friends in high places, I'll see what they think we should do."

She pulled her Pokégear out of her pocket, and started hitting a few sequences of numbers after distancing herself from the group. A few agonizingly long seconds of ringing later, Flint's face appeared on the screen.

"Yo, Blue! Whassup?"

"Flint, we've got a problem. Can you contact Champion Lance for me? We've found a few Team Rocket agents at the Global Invitational, and we don't really know what to do with them."

The red-haired trainer frowned. "Not sure if he's available, but haven't you already..."

"Flint," she said, raising an eyebrow. "We've got non-G-Men members here," she whispered. "We're undercover."

"Right," he replied. "I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, check for identification. Dexes, cards, anything. Find out who they're impersonating in this tournament. If they wake up, knock them out again- which I'm sure you'll take great pleasure in."

Ash poked his head into the call. "Dang right, but that shouldn't be a problem. Ri and I took care of them last night."

The black-haired trainer flinched from the look that Aurian shot him. "We'll keep an eye out until Lance sends representatives, which is what he'll most likely do."

"Just received contact from him," Flint replied, and the two of them could hear keys clicking in the background. "Says that he'll send reps disguised as the five, and have them flunk their first or second round battles so that way they'll be quickly forgotten. In the meantime, he wants you two to stay low. Don't make yourself stick out too much during your first few battles, and he wishes you the best of luck."

"We appreciate the thought," Ash answered. "See you later, Flint."

"Later, peeps."

The screen went black, and Aurian pocketed the device. "Seems like a solid plan."

"Yeah," Ash replied. "Best we can do at the moment."

The two of them rejoined the group, where Misty, Maddy, Max, Michael, and Noah waited for the results of Aurian's call.

"My call was redirected to Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four," Aurian announced. "They'll be sending a few League operatives to take these Rocket's place and masquerade as these five. They'll flunk their first battles, and exit. No one will know the wiser."

Max frowned. "But won't their boss miss them?"

"Flint will figure something out," Ash stated. "They always do."

At that, Brock decided that it was time for him to act. "Blue, Red, can I talk to you two for a second?"

"Sure, what's up?" Ash asked.

Brock looked around to make sure that they were out of earshot of the others, and then crossed his arms. "I saw those guys," he motioned towards the group of unconscious grunts, "laying there last night, when their wounds were still fresh. There were also footprints there- two pairs of human prints, one set of flying type prints, and one group of prints belonging a quadruped fire type. I followed them, and saw that they led to your campsite. Red, you have a scratch on your arm consistent with that of a weapon used for slashing, and I found a slightly bloodied dagger tucked in the belt of one of the men."

He watched as the two trainers paled a bit, but stood their ground without saying a word. Aurian's eyes turned steely as she stared the ex-gym leader down, and Ash straightened up a little.

"You two took on a group of five highly trained Rocket Special Operatives... and won. You've obviously had intense training in hand to hand combat. So tell me... who are you working for?"

* * *

_**(A/N): Review response time!**_

_**xRoosie: Yeah... sorry about that. My schedule got crazy hectic with no warning.**_

_**Harish: As you can probably tell, I have an erratic update schedule, so I can't make any promises about update frequencies. It should get a little better- school gets out in two weeks for me!**_

_**partner555: As I mentioned earlier, I'm not sure if I'll end up doing pairings in this story. All I can say is that any Pokeshipping will be strictly one-sided.**_

_**Eclipse Wing: First off... THAT'S the kind of review that I love to see! Thanks for the fantastic advice concerning the nicknames, I'll see that I do a better job addressing them in the future.**_

_**SerenaTheHedgehog: I took some inspiration from the manga and thought 'Hey, why don't I give them weapons?' It makes for an unusual twist.**_

_**As usual, review, please! Tell me what you liked! What you didn't like! What you'd like to see! What you want me to change! I also need YOUR opinion on something- see the poll I've put up on my profile for more information. **_

_**PL, signing off!**_


	10. Secrets

_**(A/N): Hello! Two quick announcements before the chapter starts. First, I'd like to welcome thechinskyguy on board as my new beta reader! Secondly, I'd really appreciate it if you could check out the poll on my profile... I need your help! Enjoy the chapter!**_

* * *

Ash bit the inside of his lip and caught Aurian's eyes. _Crap! What should we do?_

_Lie or tell as much of the truth as possible,_ the girl replied with a frantic glance. _Those are our only options_.

Brock noticed the silent exchange between the two trainers and started tapping his foot, drawing the patonai out of their discussion with a slight jump from Ash and a rather edgy glance from Aurian.

"You're right about the combat training," Ash stated, absentmindedly scratching Pikachu behind the ears. "Blue and I have apprenticed under a rather talented man for two and a half years now. We've been sworn to secrecy..."

"Oh, of course. Secrecy, the last weapon of cowards," Brock countered sarcastically.

Ash could feel Aurian's aura spike in power, and prepared himself to restrain her.

"We are not. Cowards," she whispered. "You don't know what we've seen, what we've been through, what we've done- we've saved the world a few times, and what do we get in return? A promotion and no recognition."

The raw sincerity in the younger girl's eyes caught Brock off guard. Perhaps she was telling the truth. "Why are you here?"

"We can tell you that one," Ash replied with a tired sigh. "We're here to stop Rocket from whatever they're up to. As for what that is... we're not really sure. Blue and I are waiting for more information from our superiors."

Brock frowned. "You still haven't answered my question. Who are you working for?"

"We're not with a Team. That's all we're at liberty to say," Aurian said with another fiery glare. "We'll get in major trouble if we disclose more than that."

"What kind of trouble?"

"As in a definite memory wipe and immediate replacement from our squad," Ash finished, crossing his arms. "Our superiors take security breaches rather seriously."

Brock grimaced. "Some punishment."

Aurian allowed a faint smile. "We've seen it happen before- a few times too many, in my opinion. The information we disclosed will stay between the three of us. If it doesn't, expect a swift attack not unlike what Red and I had to demonstrate to that Rocket Special Operation team. Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am," Brock replied with a gulp. _Really don't want to make this girl angry,_ he thought. _Wouldn't end well for me._ "One more question, though... you're not really known as Red and Blue, are you?"

Ash turned back around, his counterfeit crimson eyes sparking rather dangerously. "That's for you to decide, Brock. Let's head back."

The group of three rejoined Misty, Max, Maddy, and Noah, who were discussing what the Rocket members could've been doing around the tournament site.

"What is Rocket known for?" Misty pondered. "The people I've seen that are affiliated with them were extremely incompetent."

Noah frowned. "They really like bombs. Lots and lots of bombs. Theft, bribery, corruption."

"Yeah, that's been made pretty clear," Max said, "but why are they here?"

Maddy bit her lip. "Well, there'll be a lot of Pokemon here whenever the tournament officially starts- maybe they'll go after the really powerful ones that show themselves?"

"That sounds like a probable thing that they would do," Michael announced, crossing his arms. "We shouldn't be stressing about things that we can't control. Flint will send League people to take care of the Rocket workers, so we can just relax and let it go. The opening ceremonies are starting in a few hours... why don't we hang around and get to know each other more before then?"

Max grinned. "I second that! Let's go back to Red and company's campsite. It's large enough for all of us to chill."

At that, one of the bigger men started groaning like he was waking up, and Ash and Aurian locked eyes.

"Whadda we do?" Maddy asked, hiding behind Brock. "He's waking up!"

Aurian smiled. "I got this." And at that, she slammed a right uppercut into the man's temple, knocking him out again to the surprise of everyone except Ash, who just shook his head and smiled.

Brock decided to stay with the unconscious Rocket members. The group of seven bid the Breeder and aspiring Doctor goodbye and returned to the campsite. Noah restarted the fire once they got there and the group ate s'mores for lunch. Totally unhealthy, but worth it anyways.

And the day continued on like that, with everyone exchanging childhood stories- Ash being careful not to share any that would reveal his identity to those who already knew his other identity- until it was time to head to the main stadium for the opening ceremonies. The competing trainers separated from the trainees at the gate, where they joined Noah in his quest to find a wheelchair-friendly space for him to sit and enjoy the ceremonies. Ash, Aurian, Michael, and Misty joined the throng of competing trainers and organized themselves into the block that they'd be entering the stadium in. Ash suspected that Lance had tweaked the order of the lines so he would end up standing next to Aurian. The dark-haired trainer was distracted from his musings by the sudden arrival of the commentators to their respective microphones.

"Welcome, everyone, to the inaugural Global Invitational Grand Tournament! We have gathered the top three hundred and twenty trainers from Kanto, Johto, the Sevii Islands, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Almia, Fiore, Oblivia, Orre, Kalos, and Unova to compete for the title of Grand Pokemon Master, along with a rather sizable cash prize and the opportunity to battle any Elite Four member or Champion of their choosing! I'm your host, Charles Goodshow, and I've got the lovely Shauntal of the Unova Elite Four and Champion Lance of Johto alongside me to help narrate this tournament!"

"Thanks for the opportunity, Mr. Goodshow!" a feminine voice responded. "I'm looking forward to seeing some absolutely fantastic battles!"

"Lance, do you have anything to say?"

Ash shook his head as he heard his commanding officer speak. "Like my ghost-specialist friend said, I want to see some thrilling battles, which will definitely come around sooner than later. Mr. Goodshow, should we start the program!"

Mr. Goodshow cleared his throat and continued on. "Yes, of course! Let the procession begin!"

A lively march played by the Interregional Orchestra started playing over the loudspeakers, and the trainers filed in in a large line that eventually settled into a formless blob.

"Let's go over some favorites here- there's Gary Oak, the grandson of the famous researcher Professor Samuel Oak! He's come out of retirement from training to compete here," Shauntal started. "Quite a well-rounded young man with a very balanced team. I'm expecting great things from him."

_I can hear Mr. Goodshow's smile through the microphone_, Aurian thought. _The man really has a passion for battles and a flair for organization._

"And there we have Tobias Takuto, the trainer that swept the Sinnoh League almost three years ago with only a Darkrai! He's a strong favorite here, ladies and gentlemen," Lance said, and all eyes in the stadium travelled towards the cloaked trainer, who raised a hand in response to the attention.

"Over towards the inner wall is Tyson Tetsuya of Mauville City in Hoenn. He's gone very far after that last Ever Grande Conference, and he'll put up a strong front in these first few rounds with a powerhouse team," Shauntal answered.

"There's Michael Davidson of Orre!" Mr. Goodshow announced, "A fantastic young trainer who won the Colosseum Challenge of his own region at the young age of thirteen! He'll go far here, that's for sure!"

Ash got a feeling that Lance was about to do something rather embarrassing, and resigned himself to his fate as his boss took the mike. "And over there in the crimson shirt and the red and white hat and a Pikachu on his shoulder is Red Aronshu of Kanto. The kid may not look like much, but he's got a powerhouse team that's ready for anything this tournament will throw at him. The young lady next to him is Blue Katrian, also a very strong trainer- her main three Pokemon are a force to be reckoned with. Both of these trainers- at seventeen years old- could be definite dark horses in the tournament."

Aurian grinned as Lance announced her alias, and waved to the crowd, drawing yells and cheers. Ash did the same, and waved as Pikachu did the same. He could hear a few screaming girls in the wash of noise that was the crowd, and nudged Aurian in the shoulder.

_Looks like you've already got a few admirers,_ Ash heard Aurian ponder through Kokani.

_Shut up_, he responded with a small smile and a shake of the head. _They'll never even get a chance._

"There's Misty Waterflower," the girl waved at the crowd, "The youngest of the Sensational Sisters and the Gym Leader from Cerulean City! She's put up a strong fight in the Whirl Cup and a few other Gym-Leader exclusive tournaments, and I'm looking forward to seeing how she'll do in this tournament!" Shauntal called.

Other names that Ash recognized from previous competitions were called as the formless blob eventually reorganized itself into a large rectangle. The last trainer filed in as Mr. Goodshow appeared up on the balcony closest to the Flame of Ho-Oh. Lance passed the head of the Pokemon League a torch, and the older man lit the cauldron with a blast of heat. A multi-colored flame lit the night, with the screams of the stadium almost drowning out the crackling of the fire.

"And now, we reveal our first-round match ups. The top 160 from our current 320 trainers will advance past the prelims into the first round. These battles will be single style with three Pokemon each. And here are your match-ups!" Mr. Goodshow yelled into the microphone.

Aurian held her breath as the giant television screen lit up with pictures.

"Paul," she growled, tapping her foot. Her anger suddenly turned to amusement, and she turned to grin at Ash. "This will be fun."

Ash shook his head. "Man, these are some whacked line-ups. I'm against Gary, you're against Paul, and Michael will be fighting Jasmine from Johto- you remember her? Misty is up against... oh gosh... Rudy."

"Why the 'oh gosh' with that last one?" Aurian asked, twirling a strand of hair that had escaped her braid from her finger.

Ash grinned. "He was in love with her when we were touring the Orange Islands."

Aurian let that sentence sink in for a few seconds, and then sighed. "Okay, then. That shall be interesting. Since the opening ceremonies are over, I vote we find Michael and Misty and regroup with Noah, Maddy, and Max and go to bed. I've got the first battle tomorrow, and I'll need as much rest as possible."

"Twenty Poke-dollars that Lance narrates for both of us," Ash countered with a grin.

"You're on," Aurian responded, shaking his hand.

Michael, having evidently overheard that last statement, butted in with a "throw me in for three of us for twenty, as well?" which sent the three trainers into gales of laughter.

"Think Misty, Maddy, and Noah were heading back to the Center, so let's find Max and head back to our site," Michael announced, stretching his arms. "Oh look, there he is."

"Red! Red! I can't believe that you're fighting Gary! And that Blue is fighting Paul! Man oh man, I can't wait for tomorrow!" Max exclaimed with a huge grin on his face. "Let's get out of here so tomorrow can start already!"

"I hear ya, let's get some sleep," Aurian responded, yawning.

The four walked back to their campsite, and climbed into their sleeping bags without another thought.

* * *

Aurian's Pokegear started ringing at about midnight, and the teen answered it with a groan. "Hello?"

"Blue," Lance's voice came out of the speakers, "We need you and Red back at headquarters as soon as possible. We've finally got the five people that attacked you and the Rocket Trio in custody, and we need you two to interview the trio. I'll need you two in Hall 9, Room 14 in twenty minutes."

The screen went black, and Aurian shook Ash awake as quietly as possible. When he started to protest, the girl clamped a hand over his mouth, which woke him up.

"Lance called. We need to go to headquarters, pronto. New information."

Ash called out his Gallade, Xiphos, and politely asked him to Teleport the patonai and Pikachu to headquarters. Aurian clamped his hand in a ViceGrip as a yellowish-green light engulfed the two humans and two Pokémon. They were sent hurtling through space at a breakneck speed, and landed, hard, on their feet within the G-Men base, which was hidden deep in the depths of the Kanto Victory Road.

"Lance wants us to meet him in Hall 9, Room 14 in our formal uniforms," Ash read off from Aurian's Pokegear. "Wonder why we're in formals? Oh, Xiphos, return, please."

"Beats me," Aurian replied as the psychic-fighting type was sucked back into his Pokeball. "Must be a visitor. I'll meet you at the entrance to Hall 9- gotta go change."

"See ya," Ash answered, dashing off to a dressing room.

After pulling Pikachu off his shoulder and setting him down on a bench, Ash pulled his clothes out of a duffel bag that was stashed in the wall, and started laying out the individual pieces of the dress uniform. After pulling on a pair of black pants, navy boots, and a black undershirt, he shrugged on his pitch black G-Men jacket. After he finished buttoning the silver circles through their respective holes, he added a navy blue ascot under the collar of his jacket, and struggled to button a short cape to his left shoulder. Three long knocks and a short thump echoed off the door, and Ash opened it to reveal Aurian in full uniform.

"Need a hand with that?" she asked with a smile, snapping the cape in place with ease. The silver-trimmed navy fabric flowed in a smooth cascade down both of their shoulders, and Ash straightened his jacket as Aurian tamed her hair into a simple braided bun. One navy ribbon later, the two closed the door and started walking towards Room 14.

"Seems like forever since we were in our formals," Ash pondered. "Since that one ceremony after we brought down the Johto branch of Rocket, right?"

Aurian grinned. "Yep! That's when we got our Captain ranks," she finished, pointing to a double chevron on her right shoulder. "Created quite an outrage."

"What would the G-Men be without an upset every once in awhile?" Ash countered with a smile. "People were more alarmed that they'd be under the command of two seventeen year olds- one of them female- than the fact that they'd be gaining rather capable Captains."

Their conversation ended as they finally arrived at Room 14. A few G-Men on guard duty saluted the two patonai, and opened the door for them.

Jessie, James, and Meowth were handcuffed and locked in individual interrogation rooms. Lance was waiting on them in full uniform- his redesign of the standard G-Men uniform in black and red instead of the standard navy hidden by his pitch black cape.

"Good. Welcome back, Captains Ketchum and Borealis. I hope your field mission has been successful?"

Ash smiled. "I'd say so, Commander. We've recovered some new information that we'd like to share as soon as we finish up here. Leeched it from a Rocket Pokedex. Hopefully, it will contain new information on 'MissingNO'."

"Have you sent replacements in the place of the Special Ops team we subdued?" Aurian asked.

Lance frowned. "Not yet. We're still finalizing departure times and disguises. The team should be leaving within the hour. That was a great move on your part, Aurian, with calling Flint. Way to keep yourselves undercover."

"My main question," Ash asked while stroking Pikachu under the chin, "is why you've called us here in full formals when it's only those three fools?"

Lance's eyes darkened. "They can't know that I'm in charge of the G-Men, or Giovanni will try to attack me from within the League, since these three would most definitely spill if I was revealed as the head honcho. I told our prisoners that two of our most trusted Captains would be interviewing each of them."

"What should we ask them?" Aurian inquired.

"Ask about major projects, and prominent allies," Lance responded. "We need to know if they've got any sleepers within the League."

Ash nodded. "Aye aye, Commander. We'll start with Jessie."

The young man pulled Pikachu off his shoulder, and passed him off to Lance, sighing at the pitiful look that the yellow rodent gave him as he was passed over.

"They'll recognize me in an instant if you're on my shoulder, Pika. Better safe than sorry. Aurian, you ready?"

She quickly grabbed a notepad and pen, and nodded a confirmation. As the patonai entered the first room, Lance took a closer look at the electric mouse that was peering at him with wide brown eyes.

"Kapi?" he squeaked, tilting his head. Pikachu's ears flopped down the sides of his head, adding to the cuteness factor.

Lance smiled, and imitated the way that Ash had scratched the little Pokémon under the chin and on his little stomach. The electric rodent squealed with happiness, which Lance found to be rather uplifting.

* * *

Ash opened the three-inch thick steel door, and wasn't surprised at all to see Jessie behind bars. Her hair had lost its usual shape, and was braided to the bottom of her back. Her uniform, once a pristine white, was now a battered and dirty gray.

"Here to question me, boy?" she snapped. Aurian peeked around Ash's shoulder and waved cheerfully, which caught the Rocket member off guard. "I thought this was the G-_Men_?" Jessie asked with a huff and a turn of her nose.

Aurian gave the older woman one of her signature steely glares. "Still is. We're Captains Katrian and Aronshu, and you will address us as so whenever you wish to speak. Are we clear?"

"I don't have a choice," Jessie muttered.

Ash smiled faintly. "We'll start by having you look at some photos. Do you know who these people are?"

Aurian slid five photos over- individual shots of each member of the Rocket Special Ops team that the two patonai had downed the night before.

"Yeah, I know them."

"Could you give us their names, please?"

"Domino Harvey, John Adamson, Boris Fuqua, Sammy Slater, and... wait... Petrel? What's he doing in this lineup?" Jessie pondered, resting a handcuffed fist under her chin.

Ash smirked. "Captain Katrian and I were assaulted by these four men and lady, who had no clue of our status. Why is Petrel's picture surprising?"

"He's one of the execs- fifth in command. Domino, on the other hand... I'm surprised you managed to take her down. She hasn't been bested in hand-to-hand in years."

"Are there any sleepers within the League that you know of?" Ash asked, crossing his arms.

Jessie shook her head. "Nope."

"You seem to be rather willing to give out information," Aurian pondered, biting the inside of her lip. "Any particular reason?"

Jessie sighed. "Would you believe me if I told you that seeing that... thing... down in our headquarters scared me more than I thought was possible? Don't give me that look, girl," the Rocket member said, evidently noticing the suspicious look on Aurian's face, "you'd understand how I'm feeling now if you were in my shoes. Those scientists don't know when to stop, and I don't want to be associated with any of that. While I did fall for the world of crime, there's a sort of disillusionment that comes along with it- that everything has to be done one way and one way only. I'm ready to leave that."

"Interesting," Ash thought out loud. "That will be all."

The Rocket member smiled- a razor thin motion.

"Thank you for your time, Miss," Aurian answered, opening the door. "Ready?"

Ash followed her out, and sighed with relief as he closed the door.

"Should we interview James or Meowth next?" he asked, running a hand through his hair.

"I vote James," Aurian volunteered. "I'm not sure if I'm ready to deal with a Pokemon that can speak our language just yet. We managed to dig up some pretty big information from Jessie- we can use that as leverage against James, if necessary. Let's go."

The second door opened, revealing a very familiar lavender-haired face. James eyed the patonai suspiciously, and only spoke after Ash closed the door.

"Do I know you?"

Ash smirked. "We haven't met, I would've recognized you if we had. I'm Captain Aronshu, and this is Captain Katrian. We'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Course you would, that's all anyone's been doing," James sniffed. "Fine. Fire away."

They repeated the picture quiz with James, and received an equally surprised reaction at the last picture. He confessed that the three of them had a certain grudge against Domino from their time at the Rocket Training Academy that had never really dissolved itself.

"Next set of questions- why were you on the way to the Global Invitational?" Aurian asked, tapping her pen against the notepad.

James sighed. "Boss wanted us to look for a kid that's managed to slip off the radar for a few years- Ash Ketchum. Said he wants to recruit him, or something like that."

"What was your response?"

"We accepted the mission, of course, but then had some second thoughts on the way over," James answered. "Jess, Meowth, and I have known the kid since the day after he started his journey. We may be on opposite sides in this mess, but I respect his work ethic and abilities. So we decided as a team to check the tourney, say that we couldn't find him, and then head back. Then we ran into those dang Rangers, and they turned us in."

Aurian frowned. "Why Ash Ketchum?"

"The kid's a fantastic trainer, and has a bunch of connections in high places. I've seen what he can do first hand... he's got relationships with all these legendaries, and has never met a stranger."

"All right. One more question, James," Ash announced, sliding over one last picture. "Do you know what this is?"

The older man narrowed his green eyes. "MissingNO. That's been the top priority around the Kanto base, lately. I asked a scientist friend of mine about it, and he said he couldn't give a location other than something called Sector A9."

"Thank you. One more thing," Aurian questioned. "Why are you helping us?"

James sighed. "Look, you'll never understand the emotions that shot through my veins when I caught sight of MissingNO. I'm not one for philisophical ponderings, but I've come to the conclusion that my colleagues have crossed the line. Mewtwo was pushing the boundaries of ethics, but this... this is another level of sick and wrong."

Ash considered this statement with a thoughtful nod. "Thank you, James."

The lavender-haired man did the best he could to smile as the two left the room.

Ash smiled. "Excellent. If two of the three Rocket members that have known me for seven years don't know who I am, this disguise can fool almost anyone."

"Don't get cocky," Aurian answered, tapping her foot. "Ready to go see Meowth?"

The female trainer opened the third door, and looked down at the imprisoned cat Pokemon. Meowth's coin, which he was normally extremely protective of, was dull instead of reflective. His fur was dirty and matted, and his eyes seemed to have lost their usual spark.

"What'cha doin' here?" the Pokemon asked.

Ash extended a hand. "My name is Captain Aronshu, and this is my partner, Captain Katrian. We're gonna ask you a few questions."

Meowth narrowed his eyes. "Neva had a human shake a paw before."

"Captain Aronshu and I aren't like most humans that you've been around, from what your colleagues told us." Aurian answered, returning Meowth's pawshake. "Let's cut to the chase... Jessie and James have told us quite a bit. Do you know anything about MissingNO?"

"Nothin much, but I know a bit," Meowth responded. "Rocket's gone too far. I've seen tha thing in the flesh, if that term even works for tha thing. MissingNO is not a real Pokémon. Doesn't smell like a Normal type, even if the scientists claim it is one."

Aurian's eyes narrowed. "How did you see MissingNO? No offense, but I doubt that you had the security clearance to see the thing without setting off some serious alarms."

Meowth sighed. "You're right, I didn't. Snuck in through an air vent right by Sector A9, and stayed in the shadows until I approached the lab. The thing is huge- at least seven feet tall when I last saw it, and it wasn't even half developed, from what I overheard. They've gone too far with experimentation- they're trying to play Arceus by creating life, and even **_I_** know that's a bad idea."

"One last question," Ash finished, fishing the Rocket Pokedex out of his pocket. "What data is on this?"

"Not sure," Meowth answered. "You'll need a fingerprint to access anything in there, or it'll self-destruct. Good luck with that."

"Thank you, Meowth, and you'll get access to a lawyer soon if you please. Bye," Aurian said, and Ash followed her out of the room.

The door closed, and Lance looked at the two patonai and smiled. "Well done, you two. I'll have our forensics crew look at that Pokedex so you can go back to that campsite and get some sleep. Good luck in the tournament tomorrow. Ash, I'm sorry about that match-up."

The crimson-eyed boy shrugged. "Nah, it's no big deal. I've beaten Gary before, and I know his weaknesses. This shouldn't be too bad."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Don't get cocky. Aurian, how do you feel about Paul Shinji?"

"That stubborn, stupid, stuck-up son of a..."

Her response was cut off by Ash clamping a hand over her mouth. The female trainer pulled it off of her face and glared at her patonai. "I was going to say 'that son of a gun', not what you thought I was gonna say..."

"Anyways, we'll be changing and leaving now. Thanks for the info, Commander, and we'll call or send Michael off with more whenever we find it. Later," Ash finished as he took Pikachu from Lance's shoulder and returned the sleepy electric rodent to his own.

Lance shook his head as the door closed behind him. "Can't wait to see how badly Aurian flattens Paul. That'll be a battle to remember. I'll see if I can pull some strings so I can narrate for both of them tomorrow."

* * *

Ash and Aurian didn't say anything to each other other than a simple 'night' as they climbed into their sleeping bags.

After what felt like forever, a scene started unravelling itself within Ash's head- a scene so clear that he felt that it wasn't just a dream.

The crimson-eyed trainer drempt that all of his friends were together at the tournament, discussing how much they missed Ash and that they wished he was here. Even Misty and May, who had been the most vocal about his failure to protect innocent people, were joining in the nostalgic conversation. He found himself standing a little away from their group, with Aurian at his side.

"You know what you've gotta do," his patonai answered with a smile. "Go get 'em, champ."

Ash sucked in a deep breath and nodded, stepping towards his old companions. "Hey, guys?"

The group paused their speech and waited patiently. Misty stood up. "Yes?"

"There's something you need to know, and I'd like to apologize for lying to you all. My name isn't Red Aronshu... you can call me Ash. Ash Ketchum."

May joined Misty. "You're kidding."

Ash held up his Sinnoh Pokédex in response, which had his picture and contact information on the screen. "It's me, guys. I'm back."

Before he could see his friend's reactions, the dream shifted and faded into black, much like his teleportation experience earlier, and his home in Pallet Town came into view. His mom was seated at the kitchen table, with tears streaming down her face. She held half of a crystalline structure within her hands, and was rolling it back and forth as she sat in heavy thought.

"Oh, Ash," she whispered, her voice cracking. "There's so much I have to tell you, but I'm not sure how to do this..."

"You can tell me, Mom!" Ash cried out, startling the woman in front of him. "I'm here, just tell me!"

Delia looked up and made eye contact with Ash, her eyes still watery. "I can't, son. Not yet. The time isn't right, or I would know..."

Ash ran towards the kitchen table to comfort his mom, but woke with a gasp as daylight filtered into his eyes. He squinted, and realized with a jolt much like Pikachu's electricity what day it was.

His past had finally come back to haunt him, and it was starting with Garrison Oak.

* * *

_**(A/N): Hey, everyone, and thanks so much for reading chapter 10! It's review response time! **_

_**WritingForMuffins: Thank you! The plot will definitely pick up from here on out.**_

_**xRoosiee: Yep!**_

_**SerenaTheHedgehog: That's basically how I view our Breeder friend. **_

_**thechinskyguy: Thanks for the encouragement! **_

_**PL, signing off!**_


	11. Confrontation

_"It seems that my fate has a twisted sense of humor concerning my past", _Ash thought, stretching out within the confines of his sleeping bag. "_Not that I can do anything about it. And I'm really surprised that no one's recognized me yet. Yeah, I've grown about a foot and a half taller, my birthmarks have faded, and my voice has dropped about an octave, but I don't really look all that much different from when I dropped off the radar."_

After narrowly avoiding a Thunderbolt by gently prodding Pikachu awake, Ash moved on to wake Aurian from her sleep. She was muttering something about how her little brother shouldn't get into the cookies that her mom had just baked, and nearly screamed with surprise when her patonai poked her shoulder.

"Arceus, Red! Don't do that!" she exclaimed, crossing her arms.

Ash shrugged with a devious grin. "You wouldn't have woken up if I had done otherwise. It was a shoulder poke or a bucket of water from the river."

"I take that back," she responded with a Mareep-esque smile. "Thank you for poking my shoulder. When's your battle?"

"Right after yours. We use the same entry tunnel into Stadium A," Ash said, scratching his head. "Do you have any plans for stomping Paul into the ground?"

Aurian gave a rather nasty grin. "Plenty. You said he uses brute power? What better way to overpower attack stats by outrunning them?"

"Good choice. You'll be fine. Gary, on the other hand..."

"Don't worry about that. He fights the same way that you did right after our induction. Rather brash, by our standards. He'll be unprepared for anything unorthodox that you cook up, and you can do that with no problem."

Ash glanced at his Pokedex after switching to the clock function. "First battle's at eight, and it's about seven fifteen. Wanna wake everyone up and go grab breakfast?"

"Wake everyone up, yeah. Go get breakfast... I have a better idea."

As Michael and Max woke up, they inhaled the scent of gently roasting marshmallows over the embers from the night before, which had been reignited by Ash's Typhlosion.

"S'mores for breakfast?!" Max exclaimed. "Do you guys do this every day?"

Ash laughed. "I wish we could, but nah. Only when we're in a hurry to get somewhere on time and when we have enough chocolate left over. Blue and I have to report to our stadium in about twenty minutes to check in for our battles. I bet Misty will bring everyone else over."

"Do you guys know which Pokèmon you'll be using?" Michael asked, scratching his Espeon between its ears.

Aurian shrugged. "I know for sure that I'll be using Empoleon today. I'll come up with a plan whenever I see Paul's team. What about you, Red?"

"Pikachu's a go, along with Gallade. I have some ideas about who Gary will choose, but I can't afford to risk an assumption. I've got too much to lose," Ash answered as he watched his starter stock up on marshmallows.

"Not too much, buddy, I'll be countin' on you this morning," the Pallet native chastised. Ash heard an annoyed 'Chapi' from Pikachu as he finished his last marshmallow and returned to his trainer's shoulder. Footsteps and the sound of crunching leaves echoed through the clearing, revealing Noah, Maddy, and Misty.

"Hey guys!" Max said. "Ready to head out?"

Maddy grinned. "Yep! I can't wait to watch you battle, Blue!"

The older girl smiled at her trainee's excitement. "Let's go check in, now that we're all here. You guys game for that?"

Everyone agreed, and started making their way towards Stadium A.

"Hey, Michael? How do the prelims work?" Noah asked.

"There are three battle venues- Stadiums A, B, and C. Since there are three-hundred twenty of us competing, the League decided to split everyone up so Prelims could move faster," Michael answered, fiddling with the Snag Machine. "After this round is over, we'll all combine into one block in Stadium A, with Mr. Goodshow, Champion Lance, and Shauntal switching off on commentary."

"Splitting everyone up was a good idea," Misty said. "That probably halved the length of the tournament."

By the time she finished speaking, Stadium A loomed over the group. Spectators and trainers alike filed into assorted doorways with cotton candy, popcorn, and sports drinks in hand. Max saw his sister and her coordinator buddies grab a few programs before they walked in. Luckily, they didn't seem to notice his new friends.

"What now?" he asked. "Where's the check-in desk?"

Maddy pointed towards a table near a door and spotted a familiar looking head. "Look, there's Paul! I bet we need to go that way."

"Off we go, then!" Aurian announced. "I wonder if you'll get to stand in the box with us?"

Max sighed at the thought. "I've always dreamed of doing that, so I really hope we can!"

A Nurse Joy manned the desk, and greeted the foursome with a friendly wave as they approached the table.

"Welcome to the Preliminary Battles! You two must be Blue Katrian and Red Aronshu! I'll check off that you're here. You two and your trainees will be following Dave in the neon yellow shirt over to Entryway number seven. He'll fill you in on the details whenever you get there, alright? I wish you the best of luck!"

"Thank you, ma'am," Ash replied. "Have a good day."

Dave waved the four over, and started leading them towards the entry tunnel.

"Morning, Dave," Aurian greeted. "Any special procedures today?"

"Yer trainees will enter with ya and join in the fun in the box. Wait until the announcer says your name, and then go, I suppose. Nothin too special. This ain't ya first rodeo, so I trust ya know what yer doin'," he replied with a smile. "There's a waitin' area through here, and the blue door leads to the stadium."

"Thank you, sir. Have a good day!" Ash answered.

Dave was right – this really wasn't anything special. The waiting area had two green couches and a refrigerator with bottled water. A sky-blue door emblazoned with a number seven confirmed the rest of the League worker's statement.

"Do all stadiums have waiting areas?" Max asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

Ash shrugged. "Some do, some don't. The last time I was here, this area didn't exist."

Aurian poked her head out the blue door and motioned the other three forward. "Mother of Arceus, look at the crowd!"

Ash noted that almost every seat was full, and even more people were filing in at the last second. "Wonder who's announcing for us?"

"Gooooooood morning, everyone!" Lance exclaimed, his voice amplified to rather extreme measures.

Ash put a hand to his forehead, while Aurian laughed at her patonai's reaction.

"I guess that answers that," Max deadpanned. "Go Blue!"

"Remember what our teacher said the first time he saw you battle?" Ash asked.

Aurian raised an eyebrow. "Float like a Beautifly, sting like a Beedrill?"

"While that's good advice, that's not what I was thinking. Do what you can with what you have. Good luck out there," Ash stated, clapping his patonai on the shoulder. "We'll be cheering you on from in here."

As Aurian turned, she heard Ash through Kōkani.

_"Don't stick out too much. Save your power for the later rounds_."

_"You worry too much. I've got this_," she responded.

Aurian and Maddy stood in wait as Lance quieted the crowd.

"Thank you all for coming to the Global Invitational Grand Tournament! I'm Champion Lance Luxforde of the Kanto-Johto League, and I'll be the commentator for Stadium A today! Joining me is Steven Stone, the former Champion of Hoenn! Steven, how do you think this first battle will turn out?"

"I'm expecting a lot of surprises, that's for sure," the trainer answered. "These first two trainers have fantastic League records, and I'm looking forward to a great battle."

"Let's get started then! Coming from the red door on the west end of the field is Paul Shinji of Veilstone City!"

The crowd went wild as the plum-headed teen walked onto the field without a smile.

"Coming from the blue door at the east end of the field is Blue Katrian of Canalave City, accompanied by trainee Madeline Cobalt!"

"Now or never," Aurian muttered while she threw open the door. The two young ladies made their way towards the grassy battlefield, waving to the crowd as they reached their painted box.

"This will be a 3 on 3 single battle with no substitutions. You need to win three rounds total to advance to the second round. There will be no time limit, and if either one of you uses excessive force, you will be disqualified. Both of you will release your Pokémon on the count of three. Are we clear?"

Both Aurian and Paul nodded, determined looks crossing their faces.

Maddy stood a little behind her mentor, and quietly observed the building tension between the two trainers.

"The referee has briefed our battlers, and we're set to begin at any moment," Steven commented.

"GO!"

Aurian pulled a Pokèball from the very back of her belt and launched it forward with a grin. Paul tossed his, as well, and the female G-Men member was happy with what had unfolded in front of her.

"Our first round match-up will be between Paul's Electivire and Blue's Chandelure! Let the Global Invitational Grand Tournament begin!" Lance thundered, drawing yells of approval from the grandstands around him.

"Thunder!" Paul ordered. The massive yellow creature in front of him shot an arcing stream of lightning from the appendages on its head. Chandelure shot up into the sky, effectively rendering the attack useless. Aurian pulled Maddy down to the ground as the bolt shot past where their heads were just a split second before, and the two watched in horror as it left a huge dent in the metal door that they entered from.

"All right, then," Aurian said, standing up and dusting herself off. "Two can play at this game. DoubleTeam!"

Twenty-five copies of the ghostly chandelier surrounded the electric-type, which threw Paul off guard. Before the Sinnoh native could call another attack, Aurian shouted "Will-O-Wisp!"

Paul could only watch in horror as twenty-six Will-O-Wisps found their mark. The area surrounding Electivire went up in blueish-purple flames. Once they cleared, Paul's smile turned quickly to a frown as his eyebrows travelled up his forehead.

_I_ _know that only one attack out of those was the real one, but dang..._

"Thunder, again!" Paul commanded. "Get rid of the copies!"

Electivire spun in place, sending its attack spiraling through the copies. Only two- the original Chandelure and a copy- made it out unharmed. Paul smiled a cruel smile, knowing that the girl, though weak, could prove to be a formidable opponent if he pushed her hard enough.

"Hex!" Aurian yelled. The two Chandelure began to glow with a dusky purple light, which started concentrating around the ghost-types' mouths. The attacks concentrated themselves into a beam, which hit its opposition between the eyes. The last copy faded away into nothingness.

"And Electivire takes a hard hit from Hex! What will Paul do now?" Steven pondered.

"Thunder again! Don't let it get away!"

Aurian bit the inside of her lip. "Dissolve yourself."

The lightning would've been dead on... had Chandelure still been there. The ghost-type reappeared behind the powerful electric-type, and fired off another Hex. Electivire, now enraged from not landing a single attack on the ghostly chandelier, roared to the sky.

"Charge beam," Paul ordered. As soon as he finished speaking, the attack made contact with Chandelure, who shook it off with a sinister smile.

For the second time in one battle, Paul was caught way off guard.

"From the looks of things, these next attacks will decide the round," Lance added. "Who will come out on top?"

"Overheat!" Aurian cried.

"Thunder."

The attacks met in a swirling vortex of white lightning and blue fire, and pushed each other back and forth. A ghostly wail from the blue side of the field signaled one last push from Chandelure, who managed to send her attack forward into Electivire.

When the smoke cleared, patches of grass had been set on fire or burnt completely. Electivire lay belly-up on the ground, with swirls in its eyes.

"Electivire is unable to battle! Round One goes to Blue!"

The stadium erupted with cheers as Paul returned his Pokémon. Aurian called the ghost-type back for a short conference.

"You were great out there, buddy!"

The ghost type grinned. "Luuuuuuuuuuure."

"Unfortunately, I have to call you back now. Thank you, friend." An indigo light encased Chandelure, and she returned to her Pokéball.

"What a first round!" Lance commented. "Blue looked like she knew exactly what she was dealing with, and handled everything beautifully."

"Paul, on the other hand, looked a little taken aback by Blue's masterful maneuvering. I've never seen anyone order a ghost to simply dissolve before! Let's see what unfolds next," Steven added.

Paul caught Aurian's spectacularly blue eyes with his own pitch black, and smiled. Aurian returned the action, and disconnected another Pokéball from her belt.

"Round Two will now commence!"

"Aggron!" Paul announced. "Don't let me down."

Aurian smirked. "Let's shake things up a bit. Togekiss, let's go!"

"Whoa there, did Blue just send out a Flying-type against a Rock-type?" Steven announced. "This should be interesting."

"This young lady has proved herself to be more than capable so far- maybe she'll amaze us again!" Lance said.

"Aggron, use Rock Slide."

"Dodge those with an ExtremeSpeed combo!"

Rocks materialized from nowhere and launched themselves at the Jubilee Pokémon, who sped out of the way so quickly that she nearly vanished from sight.

"That's one fast flying-type! I think it could give my Salamence a run for his money!" Lance laughed.

A blue light flared from the tip of Togekiss' right wing, and the modified Aura Sphere exploded on contact with the Aggron, who roared in confusion from the two-faceted attack.

"Flash Cannon!" Paul yelled. A silvery-white sphere of light gathered around his Pokémon's mouth, and shot directly at the flying-type.

"Up and out!" Aurian called. Her Togekiss rocketed up into the air, causing a misfire from the Iron Armor Pokémon. "Sky Attack!"

The Flying-type decided to bide her time until the attack gained its full power by shooting off into an orbit around Aggron.

"Rock Slide." Once again, boulders flew across the field at a breakneck pace. Togekiss started corkscrewing towards the Aggron, her form cloaked in a harsh white-blue glow. Paul's Pokémon kept the rocks moving at a relentless pace, but none of its efforts slowed the Jubilee Pokémon down. She sped towards and shattered six individual boulders before making contact with Aggron.

Togekiss pulled up from the dual-type, who swiped at her wing with a Metal Claw. She spun out of the way at the last second, leaving Aurian just enough time to ask for an Aura Sphere.

The silvery-blue attack hit the Aggron right between the eyes. The crowd was silent as every eye in the stadium watched the Iron Armor Pokémon fall to the ground, unconscious.

"And a super-effective Aura Sphere takes Paul's second Pokémon down! He really seems to be floundering around down there," Steven commented, struggling to make himself be heard through the roar of the crowd.

"I second that," Lance answered. "Blue is dominating so far, having quickly eliminated two of her opponents within the course of about seven minutes. Round three is starting now!"

"Torterra!"

"Empoleon!"

The two Sinnoh starters shared a cool glare, and waited for their trainers to call their first attacks.

"Begin!"

"Giga Drain."

"Take it, Empoleon. Show him what you're made of!"

"Unorthodox strategy from Blue," Steven pondered. "What's she up to?"

A green mist engulfed Aurian's starter, and the Water-Steel type didn't seem the least bit fazed as Torterra siphoned her energy away. The drain ceased, and Paul finally figured out what his opponent's strategy was.

_She's playing with me! She's been running circles around me... All this time, she's been strong enough to take me down in a single hit... but why hasn't Blue done that yet?_

"Ice Beam!"

A blast of freezing matter emanated from Empoleon's jaw, completely encasing Paul's starter.

"Torterra, use Frenzy Plant to fight your way out!"

Aurian bit her lip, and a crazy idea came to her.

"Brick Break and Hydro Cannon, back to back! Don't let that Frenzy Plant get in your way!"

Empoleon rushed towards her opponent while dodging vines and the occasional tree branch that had been summoned from deep within the earth. Aurian's starter leaped into the sky, and spiraled into the mass of ice that was Torterra, her right fin extended. A satisfying crack resounded throughout the stadium, freeing Paul's starter from its frozen prison. Empoleon, who had been catapulted into the air upon impact, fired off a quick and extremely powerful Hydro Cannon from her mouth.

The attack's swiftness was no match for Torterra's Frenzy Plant. The compact sphere of water shattered the vines that were thrown in front of it, and landed between the Pokémon's eyes.

Smoke cleared once again, revealing an unconscious Torterra and a very proud Empoleon.

"Paul's Torterra is down and out, which means that Blue Katrian, the Sinnoh Sharpshooter, has won the first round!" Lance roared over the deafening screams from the crowd.

Aurian and Maddy approached the middle of the field, where they were met by a rather Flaffy-ish Paul.

"What I said earlier about female trainers being weak... I take that back," Paul said, extending a hand.

Aurian took his hand and shook it. "Thanks for a great battle."

The Veilstone native nodded once and exited the stadium through his red door.

"That. Was. Incredible!" Maddy noted, awe permeating her voice.

Aurian laughed. "Thanks, kiddo. You want to know a secret?"

Her trainee nodded.

"I was holding back. I could've slaughtered the guy in three hits, but it wouldn't do any good to make myself stand out this early in the tournament."

"Why not?" Maddy asked, twirling the end of her ponyta-tail.

Aurian sighed. "I had this feeling in my gut that it wouldn't be a good idea, and my instincts are nearly always right. Let's head back and cheer for Red."

The pair re-entered their blue door, and were greeted with an ecstatic Max and a content-looking Ash.

"That was awesome!" Max yelled, trading high-fives with Aurian and Maddy.

Ash grinned as he hugged his patonai. "Way to show that ignorant jerk! Those combinations were spot-on. I think our teacher would've been proud."

"Your turn, Red. Go get'em!" the Sinnoh native responded, nudging him in the shoulder.

Lance's voice boomed through the stadium. "Sorry for the wait, ladies and gentlemen! Now that we've replaced the field, lets' welcome our second pair of battlers! Coming from the red door all the way from Pallet Town, Kanto, is Gary Oak!"

The researcher entered the field to the sound of a roaring crowd- and a lot of feminine screams.

"And coming from the blue side of the field is Red Aronshu of Kanto, accompanied by trainee Max Maple!"

Ash and Max waved to the crowd as the battlefield came into view.

_Well, better a rock field than ice. This isn't what I was hoping for, but I can make it work. Takes me right back to the Silver League..._

"This will be a three-on-three battle! There will be no substitutions and no time limit. No excessive force is to be used. Both Pokémon will be released on the count of three. Ready?"

Both trainers nodded. A deathly silence hung over the stadium.

"One. Two. Three!"

Gary tossed out a Pokéball in a manner which looked highly theatrical and rehearsed. "Umbreon!"

Ash smiled, and summoned Gallade, who gazed upon the dark-type in confusion.

_"Master, why are you having me battle this novice?" _Gallade thought.

Ash let out a mental sigh. "_Patience, Xiphos. This will be good practice in delaying tactics for later missions."_

_Aye, Master._

Gary looked a bit disconcerted, but regained his cockiness and swagger in a second. "Umbreon, use Shadow Ball!"

"Deflect it and teleport," Ash replied, playing with the end of his ponytail. His Gallade did so, and the ghost-type attack found itself bisected by Xiphos' right blade. The Gallade disappeared, leaving Umbreon frantic and jumpy.

The Pokémon researcher pulled an exaggerated face. "Urgh! Find it with Psychic!"

Umbreon's eyes flared, displaying an unnatural blue light. Ash grinned- this was just what he wanted.

"Formation Gamma!" Ash commanded. Gallade appeared directly behind the dark-type, and fired off three rapid-succession Leaf Blades. All the attacks found their mark, and smoke cleared to reveal a badly bruised and beaten-up Umbreon.

"Umbreon, use Reflect!"

A yellowish-clear hemisphere surrounded the dark-type, who used the little time he could to regain some energy. Ash called upon his Aura skills to observe the Reflect, and ordered Gallade to use Brick Break to destroy the barrier as soon as he could tell that the Umbreon was having trouble keeping it up.

What looked like shards of glass scattered across the rocky field, leaving Umbreon exposed.

"Keep it away with Psychic!"

Ash smiled. "Break through, please."

A haunting blue-white light encased Gallade, and lifted him several inches off the ground. Xiphos summoned his psychic power, and vanquished Umbreon's hold on him with a flare of pink light.

"Quick attack!" Gary yelled.

"Dodge and return fire with Close Combat."

The Blade Pokémon sidestepped the eeveelution's attack, and launched himself into a fury of fists, arm blades, and feet. Umbreon was sent flying back into the stadium wall, defeated.

The crowd turned from deathly silent to raucous with cheers in a millisecond.

"And Red's Gallade takes down Gary's Umbreon, giving the former a one-zero lead!" Steven yelled. "That was unusually quick."

"Gallade are known for saving their strength until they're certain they can eliminate an opponent," Lance explained. "Red's done a fantastic job of teaching his Pokémon how to do that. Let's move on to round two!"

"Electivire!"

Ash grinned. "Pikachu, get out there."

The little electric mouse catapulted himself off of his trainer's shoulder and landed gracefully on all four limbs, his cheeks sparking in anticipation. The Electivire towered over Ash's starter, and emanated a cocky aura- just like his trainer, Ash noted.

"Go!"

"Thunder Punch!"

As Pikachu dodged, Gary wasted no time in ordering his electric-type to rattle the ground with a Thunder. Pikachu jumped, and managed to avoid the initial shockwave. As Pikachu began to fall, the ground rumbled, and rocks shot up into the air around him.

"Use the rocks to your advantage!"

His starter launched himself off of the rock below him, and used the momentum to propel himself from rock to rock, reversing each boulder's direction. Pikachu landed on the ground just as the rocks intended to be his doom turned into his second chance.

Electivire found himself buried under an avalanche of boulders up to half his size. As he dug himself out, Ash saw his chance.

"Thunderbolt and Iron Tail!"

Pikachu charged towards the larger Pokémon in a sunshine-yellow and steely grey blur. At the last second possible, he rotated so that his Iron Tail would absorb the electricity that he had generated. The double attack hit Electivire in the center of the chest after burrowing through a few layers of rock.

_I'm surprised that Electivire is still standing_, Ash noted. _Gary must've improved a lot during his researching days._

"Thunder!" Gary cried.

Ash smiled. "Agility and Volt Tackle."

Pikachu landed the attack on his opponent before Electivire could even blink. Gary stared in shock as his Electric-type toppled over, unconscious.

"Red wins the second round!" Steven yelled. "He now leads, two to zero!"

"Round three is coming up next!" Lance answered. "What will we see next?"

Gary angrily returned Electivire, and tossed out Blastoise without a word.

"Let's go, Heracross," Ash answered. Gary's sudden change in tone concerning his starter- who Ash knew he cared for especially much- was concerning.

"Hydro Cannon!"

Gary's Blastoise angled its blaster cannons towards the navy bug, who jumped into the air as the attack neared. Gary realized his mistake as his starter froze in place, rendered immobile by his own attack.

"Megahorn."

Heracross's horn glowed a faint crimson as he rammed into his opponent, sending the massive water-type into the ground.

"Can you move yet?" Gary asked angrily.

Blastoise responded to his trainer's statement by shooting off a Hydro Pump without a command, which clipped Heracross' wing. Gary grinned at the surprising turn of events, but was caught off guard when Heracross stood up on the ground, looking unhurt except for a sprained wing.

"We've got you now! Use Skull Bash!" Gary yelled.

Ash waited until the large tortoise was barrelling towards Heracross to make his next move. "Spin into Takedown!"

Heracross jumped over his opponent, who spiralled into the wall, and tackled Blastoise just as he was emerging from his shell.

"Focus Punch!"

Both trainers stared as both of their Pokemon prepped to use the same move.

A three-clawed arm and a pudgy blue paw met in an explosion of red and blue light, and smoke cleared to reveal Heracross standing victorious over a collapsed Blastoise.

"That's the end of the third round! The winner is Red Aronshu!" Lance yelled, and the crowd roared once again.

Ash moved forward to shake Gary's hand, but the researcher turned over his shoulder and exited the stadium before Ash could even get a word out. Pikachu shrugged, and Ash decided to follow his old rival.

* * *

Gary ran out of the stadium after returning his starter, and quickly found a deserted alcove in the stadium. He sat down on a concrete cross-support and buried his head in his hands.

"I'm the incredible Gary Oak! I've conquered ten of the Kanto gyms by storm! I'm Johto's heartthrob, I'm was the next great researcher who can continue the Oak family legacy! How could I lose to a virtual no one?" he yelled.

He stood up and started pacing, and counted the ways he could take Red out without Pokémon. A punch to the eye? A slug to the stomach?

"Argh! Stupid Red!" he exclaimed, kicking the floor.

"You called?"

Gary turned around to find Red and that Pikachu of his standing about eleven feet away from him. Red was holding a cap in his hands, and looked slightly nervous.

"How'd you find me?"

Red shrugged. "I've got a way with finding things. Ask Pikachu, if you ever get the chance. May I join you?"

Gary sighed. "I don't care!"

"It seems like you do," Red replied as he sat down next to Gary on the concrete support. "Would you like to talk about it?"

He pouted. "No!"

"It's impossible not to care about anything," Red answered, his eyes narrowing. Pikachu hopped down off his shoulder and into his lap.

"Hmph."

Red sighed. "Will you please stop acting like a preschooler?"

Gary stood at his opponent's last statement. "I am _not_ acting like a child!"

"This is why you're not successful," Red answered.

The researcher halted in his tracks and fixed his nastiest glare on Red. "Care to explain that?"

"You're cocky, temperamental, and too self-focused to take anyone's advice."

Gary's face reddened. "I'm not cocky!"

"What were you saying back there about being Johto's heartthrob?"

"Shut up!"

Red stood up and backed away, his hands up in surrender. "Breathe, Gary. Calm down."

"I _AM_ CALM!" Gary bellowed, then clapped his hands over his mouth.

Red raised an eyebrow. "Take a look in a mirror, Gary. Not just to fix your hair or check for pimples, but look deeper. I want you to analyze the person you see in your eyes. You'll see what I've talked about, Gary. You are not indestructible or invulnerable, like you believe you are. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe that Blue is waiting on me upstairs."

Gary harrumphed as Red walked away. Who did he think he was, insulting the grandson of the greatest researcher ever?

As he left the stadium, he came upon a lovely pond filled with Ducklett, Swanna, Goldeen, Magikarp, and Basculin,and looked down to see his eyes.

Dangit, _Red was right._

* * *

Aurian was pleasantly surprised when Brock decided to keep her and Misty company while they watched Michael's battle from the grandstands. Red was most likely off speaking with Gary, Noah was with his mentor on the field, and the other trainees had run off to the concession stand to buy snacks.

"You don't think Red will chew Gary out too harshly, do you?" Misty asked.

Aurian laughed. "Nah. I think he's sincerely interested in helping Gary improve as both a trainer and a person."

Brock frowned. "Awfully nice of him, considering that Gary ordered an attack on him under a week ago."

"That's Red, though. Willing to overlook the small things and help anyone who needs it," the female trainer replied while smoothing her ponyta-tail. "He helped me when we first met, and I've spent the last three years trying to pay him back."

"How'd he help you, Blue? Seems like you've got everything together."

Aurian's eyes darkened considerably. "When we first met, I had just come back from a tour of Johto, which was my fourth League, after Sinnoh, Unova, and Kanto. I had walked back into the house the week before to find my mom screaming at my dad that she had never loved him and was never coming back. She filed for divorce the next day. Dad filled me in on all the stuff that she conveniently left out of our video calls- she had been having an affair with a sailor from Almia, and was slowly draining all the money that Dad worked so incredibly hard to earn out of their joint bank account."

"Wait... when we all were eating s'mores back at the campfire, you said you lived with your parent_s_," Misty pondered. "How's that possible?"

Blue sighed. "I'm getting there. The divorce was... nasty. I thought we were through the worst of things when the custody battle began. Since I was of age, I was exempt from the argument. But my brother, however..." she trailed off.

_"I wish I could tell someone the truth about my past, instead of resorting to another alibi about how Ash and I met. Guess that's just part of life as a G-Men member."_

"He was six," she began, struggling to keep the raw anger out of her voice. "He didn't quite understand what was going on, but he knew that Dad and Mom weren't gonna stay together. My mother stopped caring about him, and only wanted custody to further scar Dad. He used conversations they'd had about him during the divorce as evidence that Dad should retain custody. It worked. My mother moved off to Almia with her lover, and left Dad, Matt, and I in the dust. Dad encouraged me to get back to training, and I was somewhere outside Sunyshore two weeks after the custody battle ended when I met Red. I was still an emotional wreck when we met, and he immediately saw through the facade that I had created. He helped me get through those next few months. Don't know what I would've done without him."

Misty smiled. "Wow. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. Looks like you gained a fantastic friend out of it, though."

"Red was there when Dad called and told me that he was gonna remarry," Blue continued on, her hands propped under her chin as she leaned on the railing, "and he went with me to the wedding. I really like his new wife, Marcie. She's been a great person for Matt to spend time with, and convinced him to try the Sinnoh Battle Frontier. And Dad... he's doing all right. He really deserved a second chance at love after the first one crashed and burned."

Brock saw an opportunity to get more information out of the trainer. "Speaking of love... kind of an awkward question, but are you and Red dating?"

"Nah. Red and I do almost everything together, and I consider him to be the older brother I never had, anyways. We've been accepted into each other's families, as well. He's just as welcome on my Dad's doorstep as I am, and vice versa. Don't worry about the awkwardness- I get that question a lot. Maddy asked me three hours into her apprenticeship," Blue answered, motioning to her trainee.

"How'd you know we were back?" Maddy asked in between mouthfuls of popcorn.

Blue shrugged. "I'm just magic like that."

_"I_ _could tell your aura from everyone else's with no effort whatsoever," Blue thought._

Max happily munched on his two-scoop rocky-road ice cream cone. "We would've been back sooner, but we got stuck behind Champion Cynthia in line."

Everyone jumped when Ash suddenly appeared. "Oh, I've been in your shoes, Max. I'm surprised that you managed to get your food in under fifteen minutes. When I was stuck behind her, it took her a good half-hour to decide what to choose."

"Geez, Red! Why'd you sneak up on us like that?" Max exclaimed, nearly dropping his cone.

Ash smiled as he gave Pikachu a Sitrus berry from his backpack. "I wasn't sneaking around. You weren't perceptive enough to hear me coming."

Brock's reply was cut off by the boom of Steven's voice through the stadium as the Champion introduced Michael and his opponent, Jasmine, the Gym Leader at Olivine City in Johto. The referee gave his standard pre-battle speech, which sparked some curiosity in Max's inquisitive mind.

"Hey Red, I've got a question. What's the excessive force rule for? I've been to a few other League competitions, and I've never heard of it before now," Max asked.

Ash frowned as Pikachu jumped to the railing to sit beside his trainer's trainee. "Blue, do you mind answering this one?"

"Flint explained this to me once," Aurian explained. "During his third League competition, one of his opponents used a Metagross against his Monferno. Instead of attacking him, one of its Psychics 'missed' and hit him instead."

Misty's eyes widened. "Isn't that illegal?"

Aurian shrugged. "There was no rule against it at the time, so the guy got away. He managed to push through the rest of the battle, and they tied, actually. Monferno pulled him against his will to a doctor's office, and it turns out he had gained a concussion from the attack and was unfit to battle."

"How close was he?" Maddy asked.

"Top eight," Aurian sighed. "Flint said that having an attack invade the deepest corners of your mind..." she shivered. "I've had it happen to me, outside the League. It's not fun."

Ash put an arm around his patonai, who looked a little distressed from the flow of bad memories she was experiencing again. "Hey, Michael's about to kick some serious rear end, so let's cheer him on."

His patonai grinned. "Mikey would probably kill us if we didn't."

Michael's preliminary battle began with a bang- literally. Jasmine's Magneton and Michael's Espeon were almost evenly matched, and their first attack exploded in a manner normally found only in Contests.

Ash was enjoying watching his friend battle until his Pokégear started vibrating in his pocket.

"'Scuse me," he muttered, exiting their row into the hallway that encircled the top level of the stadium.

_Gotta find somewhere quiet and out of the way..._

Ash found an abandoned janitor's closet, ducked inside, and answered the call. "Hello?"

Lance's face appeared on the screen as a small thump hit the wall. Ash decided to ignore it.

"Lance?! You're supposed to be commentating!"

The Champion chuckled. "Excused myself to use the bathroom. Where are you, Red?"

"Abandoned janitor's closet. You taught me well. Any news?"

"We've recovered the five people that attacked you and Blue." Lance answered.

Ash frowned. "Do you need us to interview them?"

Lance shook his head. "Already taken care of. They gave us a lot of new info. I'm sending an email over. Read it, forward it to Blue, then delete it."

"Yes, sir. Anything else?"

Lance shook his head. "It's all in the email. Got to go now. Be careful, Red."

Ash smirked. "No guarantees. Later."

The call went dead, and the G-Men captain left the room...

...and ran into an eavesdropping Max.

* * *

_**(A/N): Hello, everyone, and thank you so much for reading chapter eleven of Primary! As of this update, the poll on my profile has closed. Thanks for all your feedback. I wasn't expecting you guys to like Aurian so much, since she's one of my very few OCs for the Pokémon world. **__**I'll take some time to respond to last chapter's reviews.**_

_**japaneserockergirl: Hey, nice to see you again! I'll see what I can do concerning the setting in the next few chapters.**_

_**CountTyranus: Thank you so much for all the complements, and please don't worry about your English. Your grammar is better than about half of my school's. **_

_**Eclipse Wing: I'm glad you're enjoying this so far, and I hope this chapter meets your standards!**_

_**Aprotny: Thank you so much!**_

_**freddycoops: I understand why you've said what you've said and will definitely take your ideas about POV into account, but I'd like to clear a few things up. The opening rounds of this tournament are supposed to be really easy for Ash and Aurian. They've been in intensive training for three years to prepare for something like this, so they'll have a leg up on a lot of the contestants. It will eventually get harder for them, but not quite yet.**_

_**Also, as of August 7th, I've been a member of this site for one year! It's been an amazing ride so far, and I'm looking forward to whatever comes next. I'd like to thank everyone for making the past year be such a wonderful experience, and for bearing with me during my rather... interesting... first fanfiction. You guys are awesome. Don't forget that!**_

_**I'm about to run out of summer (boo), so updates will be a lot less frequent than before. **_

_**PL, signing off!**_


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